Nut-free Cocoa Bliss Balls

My days have been even more busy with the kids kept at home for the past two weeks while we practice social distancing to flatten the curve. I will be the first (but not the only one) to admit that I have found this a particularly challenging period of adjustment. One of my favourite ways to unwind under stressful times is creating in the kitchen, but free time is scarce, so I cannot engage in anything too involved or lengthy. I also need to offer healthy snacks for the kids that are easy to give (as they are perpetually hungry and asking for food all the time at home!). Bliss balls tick all the boxes: quick and easy to make (taking me less than 30 minutes from gathering the ingredients in my pantry to rolling the last bliss ball), these are healthy snacks that taste like treats, and they store well for up to 2 weeks in the fridge (though these bliss balls don't last more than a day in this household!). I am limited to nut-free recipes, and I have tried a few bliss balls recipes in the past couple of months, but this is the first one that I thought is a keeper. I adapted this recipe from Taste, substituting honey for the maple syrup and adding 1 tablespoon of coconut oil to help firm up the bliss balls in the fridge. These bliss balls are also dairy-free, and tastes delicious without any coating. These bliss balls got big thumbs up from the hubby and kids alike, so I'll be making these regularly!

(I just did a quick search on my blog, and apparently a few years ago I've made another higher protein version of nut-free choco-coconut bliss balls, but it requires the use of some protein powder, which not every household would have in their pantry!)

Nut-free Cocoa Bliss Balls

(shown here rolled in cocoa powder, dessicated coconut and au naturale)

Ingredients
1 cup (90g) rolled oats
2 tablespoons cacao powder or cocoa powder
3/4 cup (120g) pitted dates
1 cup (80g) desiccated coconut
2 tablespoons honey
1 tablespoon coconut oil, melted if in solidified state
extra cocoa powder and dessicated coconut for coating

Method
1) Soak the dates in boiling water for 10 minutes, drain and reserve 2 tablespoons of the soaking liquid. (Skip this step if using medjool dates which are usually moist enough.)
2) Process the rolled oats, cacao powder or cocoa powder, dates, desiccated coconut, reserved liquid, honey and coconut oil in a food processor until almost smooth and well combined.
3) Place extra cocoa powder or desiccated coconut on a plate. Roll 2-tablespoons portions of mixture into balls. Roll in cocoa powder or coconut to evenly coat. Place on a lined tray in the fridge for 1 hour or until set. Store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 2 weeks.

A strawberry butterfly cake

My little girl is no longer so little. She celebrated her 3rd birthday last week, but she is the size of a 4 or 5 year old and speaks like one too. I often forget that she is still so little and sometimes expect so much from her. I can't believe it's been 3 years since I laboured in the hospital and had my all-natural unmedicated birth experience (which I was told was not possible after my firstborn was delivered via emergency ceasarean years ago). She was an easy baby who loved to sleep (she still loves her sleep), and she's clever in a different way to my boy's brainy smartness. She's turning out to be a very girly girl, and her request for her birthday cake was simple and girly: a pink and purple butterfly strawberry cake. This Betty Crocker butterfly cake recipe seemed simple enough to execute, and I made a strawberry cake using two recipes. I followed this food.com recipe, and used Chocolate Moosey's idea of reducing the strawberry to produce a more intense flavour and colour (but I reduced it much further than she did). Fresh strawberries were not available at the supermarket, and I could not find the frozen variety, but thankfully one of the cake supplies store I went to sold tubs of frozen pureed strawberries. The strawberry buttercream frosting was a lovely pink colour, and fortified the strawberry flavour of the cake. I was pleased with how well the cake turned out, and I was complimented on the cake at my girl's party. Homemade cakes are a rarity in Hong Kong (kitchens here are tiny and tabletop ovens are a bit of a luxury), and in fact I've never been to a birthday party where the cake was homemade. One dad at the party told me that he wasn't going to have any cake until his wife told him that I made it. I made the strawberry cake again for my girl's class when they celebrated her birthday in kindy, and the principal declared that she had two servings!

I really enjoyed making and decorating this butterfly cake, which was as easy to make as the other pink cake I made last year. I wonder if my third baby will be requesting pink cakes for her birthday like her sister! The recipe below is for a round two-layer strawberry cake. For cutting and decorating into a butterfly cake, please refer to This Betty Crocker butterfly cake recipe.

The cake shortly after I finished decorating it:

Strawberry Cake

Ingredients

CAKE
2 1/4 cups (225g) sifted cake flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 cup (115g) butter, softened to room temperature
1 cup (200g) sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup (240g) pureed strawberries
1/2 cup (115mL) milk

FROSTING
1 cup (225g) butter
3.5 cups icing sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 cup (60mL) reduced pureed strawberries

Method

FOR CAKE:
1. In a large saucepan, bring pureed strawberries to a boil, stirring occasionally. Simmer for 15 to 20 minutes or until the strawberries cook down to about two-thirds of the volume. Remove from the heat and allow to cool to room temperature. Use 1/2 cup of the reduced puree for the cake and reserve the remaining 1/4 cup for the frosting.
2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
3. In a large bowl, sift together flour and baking powder.
4. In a separate bowl, cream the butter and sugar with a mixer on medium speed for a few minutes until light and fluffy.
5. Add the eggs to the creamed butter, one at a time, mixing well each time. Add vanilla.
6. Add the flour in three additions, alternating with the milk and strawberry puree (in two additions), beginning and ending with the dry ingredients. Beat only until the ingredients are incorporated, and do not overmix.
7. Divide the batter between the two round greased and lined cake pans and bake 25-30 minutes or until the tops are brown and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool for 15 minutes then invert cakes onto cooling racks to cool completely.

FOR FROSTING:
1. Using a hand mixer, mix together sugar and butter on low speed until well blended and then increase speed to medium and beat for another 3 minutes until light and fluffy.
2. Add vanilla and 3 tablespoons of strawberry puree and continue to beat on medium speed for 1 minute more, adding more puree if needed for spreading consistency.

A Pokeball cake for an 8th

The boy turned 8 recently, and a few months ago he had requested a Pokemon-themed cake. He had lofty ideas but since I was the one who had to make it, I presented a simpler and less time-consuming cake. It still took me almost a week to make it, as I could only work on it for an hour at a time. It was also my first time using fondant. I started making themed birthday cakes since my son turned 3, and all these years I'd deliberately avoided fondant because I want my cakes to taste good, favouring buttercream instead. The style of cake I wanted to make was best decorated with fondant, so I decided that now was as good as any time to try fondant. It was also my first time using an enhanced cake formula, which I only considered because my trial run using the new ball-shaped cake pan with a made-from-scratch recipe yielded a less than satisfactory result. The doctored cake mix recipe takes advantage of the reliable results of a cake box mix, while offering a more homemade flavour. It was in fact my first time using a box mix ever, and I honestly still prefer the taste of made-from-scratch cakes (though hubby insisted there was not much difference except for the time saved). However I do see great advantages in yielding reliable results, especially now that three kids means I'm time-poor and cannot afford too many cakes flopping on me. Hubby and the kids love either cakes the same, and the differences are only noticeable when compared side-by-side.

While searching the internet for ideas, I came across a design of a central Poke ball cake surrounded by cupcakes with faces of several Pokemons. I toyed with the idea of using making a layered cake using a normal circular cake pan and carving a ball shape out of that, but in the end I ordered a Wilton soccer ball cake pan from Amazon to make my life easier. If I had to do it all again, I probably would choose to bake individual layers to shape rather than a large half-ball, because the cake took a long time to bake, and I had to try and counteract the drying effects of a long baking period. For inspiration and tips on decorating, I watched How to Cake It's Poke Ball Cake video tutorial and Cupcake Jemma's fondant masterclass. I also enjoyed watching this video on making a Pokeball cake. I made a chocolate cake with plain buttercream for one half-sphere, and a white cake with chocolate buttercream for the other half-sphere. I used ganache to crumb coat the cakes before laying the fondant - a white chocolate ganache for the chocolate cake and dark chocolate ganache for the white cake. For the cupcakes, I bought edible printed icing with images of various Pokemons, because I didn't have the time nor talent to decorate each individual cupcake. The only problem was that no one could remove the printed icing from the backing paper (and I followed every instruction and tips!), so as a last resort, I cut out each circle of image, and instructed the parents and kids not to eat the topping.

I used the following tips from this Super-enhanced Cake Formula to keep the cake moist:
- made a simple syrup of equal parts water and sugar, to brush onto the cake after it came out of the oven while still in the pan.
- laid plastic wrap on the cooling rack, and after cake has been out of the oven for 10 minutes, turned the cake pan onto plastic wrap, then brushed the sides and bottom with more simple syrup. Then wrap cake completely in plastic wrap.
- allowed to cool completely (took a couple of hours).
- when it came time to torte the cake, I brushed on more simple syrup before adding the filling

Other tips I found useful were:
- buy a lot of fondant! I had 2lbs each of the red and white fondant, and only a miniscule amount for the black. I had to make more black fondant using the white fondant and the black Americolor food gel from the boy's 6th birthday
- crumb coat with chocolate ganache, then let it set before frosting the second layer. The cakes were frozen (as I had to make them several days beforehand) and the cool temperature helped the ganache to set quickly
- use cornflour to dust while handling the fondant
- roll out the fondant to approximately 5mm thickness

At the end of the day, I decided that I don't like fondant. Working with fondant and eating it. For me, taste always trumps aesthetics, and I felt like I'd compromised on my principle with this cake. I'll stick with delicious buttercream for cake decorations.

Chocolate Buttermilk Cupcakes

I had a lot of buttermilk to use up from the first made-from-scratch cake recipe I attempted with the ball pan; hubby could only find organic buttermilk in 1L cartons, and I didn't have the heart to throw most of it out. I used it in the cakes and cupcakes, and they all turned out quite nicely. For the cupcakes, I modified this Taste of Home recipe for chocolate buttermilk cupcakes. I used 1/2 cup less sugar, substituted decaf coffee for the water, and used cake flour to yield a more tender crumb. It was a hit! The texture was extremely tender, the decaf coffee added a subtle dimension to the chocolate flavour (without the caffeine!). The boy wanted to help make the cupcakes, and it was easy enough for him to help measure out the ingredients and mix them.

Makes two dozen (24) cupcakes.

Ingredients
1/2 cup (115g) butter, softened
1 cup (200g) sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1-1/2 cups (190g) cake flour
1/2 cup (60g) baking cocoa
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (125ml) buttermilk
1/2 cup (125ml) decaffeinated coffee (can use water instead)

Method
1. Preheat oven to 180°C.
2. In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in vanilla.
3. Combine flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt.
4. Combine buttermilk and water.
5. Add dry ingredients to creamed mixture alternately with buttermilk and water, beating well after each addition.
6. Fill paper-lined muffin cups two-thirds full. Bake 15-20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes before removing from pans to wire racks to cool completely.
7. Frost with buttercream frosting.

Cupcakes were the first to go as soon as the candle was blown:

Super Enhanced Cake Formula

Copied from Cake Central

Ingredients
1 Cake Mix Box (Duncan Heines®, Betty Crocker®, Pillsbury® etc.)
1 cup self-raising flour
1/2 cup (100g) sugar
3 large eggs
1 cup (250ml) buttermilk
1 cup (225g) melted salted butter
1 tablespoon of Vanilla
3 mounded tablespoons of cocoa powder for the chocolate mix

Instructions for Extending Cake Mix
For this recipe you are only going to use the actual cake mix powder, do NOT also add the ingredients from directions on the cake mix box. Just ignore any other ingredients or directions listed on the cake mix packaging.
Preheat Oven to 160°C
Mix flour, sugar, cake mix, baking powder, salt and **cocoa powder together with fork, set aside.
Add eggs, water, sour cream, butter, vanilla, and cream to Mixer bowl
Add dry ingredients and mix well on (about 2 minutes on lowest speed).
Bake for 65 minutes for 9 in. cake pan.

5-Ingredient Peanut Butter Freezer Fudge

I love simple and easy recipes, and when I came across a recipe for peanut butter freezer fudge, I knew I had little excuse not to make it. Only five ingredients, and I had them all on hand! This is quite healthy too (especially if you use a natural, unsalted and unsweetened nut butter), and it is easy to make variations with different nut butters. I wish I had a Wholefoods supermarket nearby so I can get DIY freshly ground nut butters and have fun trying the different kinds of freezer fudge! I used honey but this would be amazing with maple syrup too. It needs to be kept in the freezer to keep its shape, and it's such a nice icy cool treat to have without the guilt!

5-Ingredient Peanut Butter Freezer Fudge

Ingredients
1/2 cup (about 100g) natural nut butter (peanut, almond, cashew and sunflower seed butters would work well)
2 tablespoons coconut oil, softened or melted
2 tablespoons maple syrup or honey
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
a pinch of salt

Method
1. Combine all of your ingredients into a bowl, and stir until well-combined. If the fudge is hard to mix, try microwaving the bowl for about 15 seconds.
2. Pour the fudge into a container lined with plastic wrap or parchment paper. I used a plastic container, but a bread loaf pan would work well.
3. Place the container into the freezer and allow 30-40 minutes for the fudge to set.
4. After the fudge has completely hardened, remove from the freezer and let sit for 5 minutes. Using a sharp knife, carefully cut the fudge into squares (I made 12 small squares). Store in the freezer until ready to eat.

Pound Cake

A few months ago, I had a craving for pound cakes. Initially I bought cake by the slice at the bakery section in our supermarket, but after a week, I thought that it would be far more economical to bake a cake at home. I baked two batches in one week, and after two weeks of eating pound cake, I was finally over the pound cake craving. I decided to take photos for the blog only on the second batch, which I'd split into a bunch of cupcake-sized portions and a small heart-shape pan that I gifted to a friend who celebrated her birthday that week. I used my favourite baking website joyofbaking.com to find a pound cake recipe, and I settled on this particular recipe because I was curious about the 'one bowl' or 'quick method' (also known as a 'dump' cake) employed in the recipe. This means all the dry ingredients are first put into a mixing bowl and then room temperature butter, along with the liquid ingredients, are beaten into the batter. Apparently this method reduces the gluten formation in the flour which results in a cake with softer, more tender texture. Clearly this wasn't a recipe to use for my kids' birthday cakes which needed a more durable cake for carving, but this tasted real good, perfectly satisfying my craving for a buttery and soft cake. When the cake is more than a day old, it tastes superb warmed with a scoop of ice cream (but don't tell anyone I said that). I used the recipe to the letter, which is reposted here.

Moist and tender crumb:

My friend whom I gifted this heart-shaped cake to said she and her husband loved the cake:

Pound Cake

Notes:
-All the ingredients must be at room temperature.
-I baked at 170degC in my fan-forced (convection) oven for 50 minutes. The cupcake-sized portions were done within 15 to 20 minutes, and the heart-shaped pan at 30 minutes.

Ingredients

3 large eggs, room temperature
3 tablespoons milk, room temperature
1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups (150 grams) sifted plain flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup (150 grams) granulated white sugar
13 tablespoons (1/2 cup + 1/3 cup) (185 grams) unsalted butter, room temperature

Method

1. Preheat oven to 177 degrees C and place rack in centre of the oven. Butter a 23 x 13 x 8 cm loaf pan. Line the bottom of the pan with parchment paper and butter or spray the paper.

2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the eggs, milk, and vanilla extract.

3. In the bowl of your electric mixer, with the paddle attachment (or with a hand mixer), place the dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, salt, and sugar) and mix on low speed for about 30 seconds or until blended. Add the butter and half of the egg mixture. Mix on low speed until the dry ingredients are moistened. Increase the mixer speed to medium and beat for about one minute to aerate and develop the cake's structure. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Gradually add the remaining egg mixture, in 2 additions, beating about 30 seconds after each addition to incorporate the egg and strengthen the cake's structure.

4. Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top with an offset spatula or the back of a spoon. Bake for about 55 to 65 minutes or until the cake is golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean. If you find the cake browning too much as it bakes, cover with a piece of lightly buttered aluminum foil after about 30 minutes.

5. Remove the cake from the oven and place on a wire rack to cool for about 10 minutes. Remove the cake from the pan and cool completely on a lightly buttered wire rack.

6. The Pound Cake can be covered and stored for several days at room temperature, for one week when refrigerated, or it can be frozen for two months.

Peppa Pig birthday cake for a 2-year-old

We've been celebrating a few birthdays in this household lately. First celebration was big boy's 7th birthday, then mine less than three weeks later, and finally baby girl's birthday two weeks later. We were actually not going to do anything more than just a simple celebration amongst the four of us like last year, and besides, how much can a 2-year-old appreciate a birthday do? I should know by now to never underestimate the power of a mother's guilt - yes the guilt got to me once again. Baby girl has two good friends a few months younger than her who also live in the same complex as us, and the three of them play with each other almost everyday at the playground. We invited these two girls over to our tiny apartment to celebrate baby girl turning 2, and I am glad we made the effort because baby girl loved everything - her friends coming over to play, the presents, the cake. She was still singing the "Happy Birthday" song a week after her birthday. It was easy to choose the cake theme, as Peppa Pig is one of my girl's favourite - and easily recognisable - characters. Due to time constraints, I kept the cake decorating simple. Since I wanted a durable cake for carving, I used the same cake recipe that I used for my son's birthday cake. I also used the same easy frosting recipe, and added a little bit of pink colouring. The basics of decorating with frosting - such as freezing the cake before carving, 'glueing' the cake to the cake board with a dab of frosting, and applying a crumb coat first - made the frosting process relatively painless. This was the easiest and simplest themed birthday cake I've made so far, but the other two mums were still gobsmacked that I baked and decorated it myself. The things we do for our kids :)

The cake:

Birthday girl blowing out the candles:

A Minecraft-themed cake for a 7th birthday

My son will celebrate his 7th birthday this week and we had a party on Saturday to celebrate with some of his friends. The party almost did not happen, as his birthday falls so close to our trip to Australia, and I don't exactly have much free time to organise a party (my almost-2 daughter is at a highly demanding age, and most days it seems I barely have it together to keep this household running smoothly, much less plan a party!). So when the boy brought up the topic of his birthday party a couple of months ago (with the request for a Minecraft-themed cake), I asked my son to choose between a birthday trip to Disneyland (which we have done annually on his birthday since he turned 3) or a party - he chose Disneyland. But about a month ago, mother's guilt got to me - after all, my son has had both a party and a trip to Disneyland to celebrate his birthday every year since he was 3 (it is kinda ironic that this birthday tradition started out because of mother's guilt for not being able to do anything for the boy's 2nd birthday). Hubby suggested that we could make the Disneyland trip on our girl's birthday next month instead, so that our boy could still have his party, and of course, our boy loved that idea! Choosing the party venue was easy, as our boy had previously been invited to 6th and 7th birthday parties at Funzone, and I found it to be much better suited for this age group than the BBQ-and-bouncy-castle format I'd organised for previous birthdays. Ordering the food was also easy from one of Funzone's preferred caterer Checkmate Pizza, but we were unhappy when the food arrived 40 minutes late and did not include the disposable plates, napkins and cutlery that was promised (we only had the party room for two hours, and I did not appreciate having to rush off to buy the paper plates and cutlery).

For the cake, hubby and son gave several suggestions, but they all seemed fiddly to make (neither of them have background in cake-making). I scoured the internet for ideas, and there were many beautiful creations of Minecraft-themed cakes, but looked very time-consuming and used fondant (which I think is great for decorating only, just not for eating). I came across a youtube tutorial on How to make a Minecraft cake - with yoyomax12, and I liked how she used three different components to make the whole thing with pretty good visual impact, and all without the use of fondant! The three parts were each easy to make, and assembling was a cinch. The trickiest part (which was not that tricky at all) was figuring out the quantity without making too much or too little, but that was done easily using a paper, pencil and ruler to draw out a rough design to scale, and working from that. Once I had all the components ready, assembling the pieces and adding the icing were pretty quick and easy. The finished product drew a lot of attention from parents (which was embarassing for me), and a couple of the mums were very surprised that I made the cake (in HK, most (sane) parents opt the easy route and either buy a readymade cake or order one to design). The kids loved having the choice of eating cake, rice krispies treat, jelly, or all three!

The cake just after it was assembled and iced, just waiting for the finishing touches (paper cutouts of Minecraft characters):

For the 'water' blocks, I used two large 170g packets of Berry Blue flavoured Jell-o, and used only half the amount of water suggested on the package directions (each packet called for 2 cups boiling water and 2 cups cold water, but I used that amount for two packets). For the 'sand' blocks, I made rice krispies treats for the first time in my life! I used the basic rice krispies treats recipe provided in the youtube description by yoyomax12 in her youtube tutorial, and it turned out well - not too sweet and sticky. For the 'grass' blocks, instead of the durable cake recipe used in the youtube (which uses a bought cake mix), I wanted to do a from-scratch recipe. I found Veena's Art of Cakes: Dense Chocolate cake perfect for Carving recipe, which I modified a little by omitting the coffee - the hyperactive kids don't need sugar AND caffeine. I made two batches, and for the first batch I followed the method very closely (using my hand-mixer with standard beaters rather than the paddle attachment used by the baker), but I found that beating the butter, sugar and eggs at once without first creaming the butter and sugar meant that the butter floated in clumps in the wet mixture (though the end result turned out fine). For the second batch I felt much more comfortable creaming the butter and sugar first and then adding the eggs, but this yielded a more tender cake that crumbled a bit more than the first cake I baked. However after freezing both cakes, they were easy to cut and carve and survived the manhandling while putting the cake together. I thought this cake recipe was great for sculpting - it was dense yet not too heavy to eat. I loved that it was moist and not too sweet with loads of chocolate taste. The grass frosting on top of the 'grass' blocks were easy to do with the grass decorating tip (Wilton No. 233) and buttercream frosting that had a few drops of Americolour Leaf Green soft gel paste added to it. I assembled the cake in the morning before the party, and my son was fascinated with the process (in previous years, the decorating happened late at night after he was already in bed, so he never got to see me toiling over his birthday cakes). It helps to use the same size cake pan for making the cakes, rice krispies treats and jell-o, as it will help make uniform blocks of the same size.

The whole thing mostly survived the trip to the party venue:

Basic Rice Krispies Treats

Ingredients
6 cups Rice Krispies cereal
40 large marshmallows (about a 280g packet)
3 tablespoons of butter

Method
Melt butter and marshmallows in a large pot on low heat. Once melted, add the cereal and stir until coated. Press mixture into a greased pan.


Dense Chocolate Cake perfect for Carving

(adapted from Veena's Art of Cakes)

This recipe will make a two layer 8 inch cake or a 7″ x 10″ rectangular pan, and recipe can be doubled or tripled.

Ingredients

150 ml whole milk
2 tsp lemon Juice
225 grams (1 cup) butter, softened but not melted
200 grams (1 cup) dark brown sugar
4 large eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
200 grams (2 cup + 2 tbsp) plain flour
60 grams (1/2 cup) cocoa powder
1 tsp baking powder

Method

1. Preheat oven to 170C/340F. Grease pan for baking.
2. Add the lemon juice to the milk and set aside.
3. In a mixing bowl, add the soft butter, sugar, eggs, and turn the mixer on medium and mix for about 5 minutes until the mixture is light and fluffy.
4. Sift the flour, cocoa powder and baking powder.
5. Add the flour mixture (in three additions) alternately with the milk (in two additions), beginning and ending with the flour mixture. Beat only until the ingredients are incorporated.
6. Pour into cake pan and bake for about 30 to 40 minutes until a skewer inserted into the center comes out clean. If using two pans the cake will bake faster so check at 30 minutes.
7. Cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then remove from the pan. Allow to cool completely on a cooling rack.
8. Once cooled wrap in two cling wraps, followed by aluminum foil, and place in the freezer for at least one hour before you carve into it.


Quick Vanilla Buttercream Frosting

(recipe from Food Network

Ingredients
1 cup (225g) butter
3 cups icing sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
2-3 tablespoons whipping cream or milk

Method
1. Using a hand mixer, mix together sugar and butter on low speed until well blended and then increase speed to medium and beat for another 3 minutes.
2. Add vanilla and cream and continue to beat on medium speed for 1 minute more, adding more cream if needed for spreading consistency.

The boy loved it, and that makes the effort all worthwhile:

Nut-free Choco-coconut Bliss Balls

Bliss balls remind me of delicious truffles and choc balls, yet a whole lot more nutritious and just as quick and easy to make. The perfect snack to have on the go or to satisfy the sweet tooth without compromising on nutrition. I first encountered bliss balls on another food blog written by Daphne (from my hometown Perth!), and her dedication to clean-eating and healthy-living is admirable. Daphne's recipes set the bar high for healthy cooking, most of which are paleo and gluten-free, but unfortunately I have not been able to use any of her recipes because of the use of nuts or sesame - ingredients that are usually quite prevalent in gluten-free and paleo recipes - which my son is allergic to. On the weekend I had about 20 minutes of rare spare time on my hands, so I decided to try making bliss balls that are safe for my son using the ingredients I already had in my kitchen. It was a spontaneous decision, and I didn't have time to look at any recipes for proportions of dry and liquid ingredients, so I was quite lucky that what I put in the bowl the first time worked well to form balls of moist, delicious goodness. My son loved these chocolate balls, and was none-the-wiser that these were a whole lot healthier than the chocolate biscuits and homemade chocolate muffins that he eats occasionally.

I made only a small amount for my test run, and when my recipe got the approval of my guinea pigs (hubby and son), I made a bigger batch that yielded 10 bliss balls. I wish I had a more robust food processor to make bigger batches, but my stick blender could not cope even with this small quantity of ingredients, and it went bust during the making of these bliss balls. Since this is a nut-free recipe, I imagine that these bliss balls are almost as easily made without a food processer (only the dates require chopping). The dates provide natural sweetness and chewiness, and is (in my opinion) a fundamental ingredient to a successful bliss ball recipe. To make up for the lack of nuts (hence protein and fat) in this recipe, I added some organic (vegan) protein powder to increase the protein content, and used organic coconut oil to add fat and moisture. The dessicated coconut I used is a reduced fat version (leftover from when I made some Anzac biccies), and I would have much rather the full-fat version, but this was the only type of coconut I could find in all of Hong Kong! Taking a quick look at the ingredients I used, I was pleasantly surprised to see that majority are organic. Organic products are more expensive, but you cannot put a price on health. These bliss balls took only six ingredients, very easy to make, and what a fantastic healthy option for the snack box!

Nut-free Choco-coconut Bliss Balls

Makes 10 bliss balls, depending on size

Ingredients

75 grams dates
30 grams reduced-fat dessicated coconut (this would be approximately equivalent in volume to 50g of non-reduced-fat dessicated coconut)
10 grams cocoa powder
25 grams protein powder
25 grams honey
15 mL coconut oil (melted if it is solidified)

Method

Simply put the ingredients into a food processor, whiz until combined, then roll into balls! Store in the fridge, and it should be good for one or two weeks (though these were gone in a couple of days).

Anzac Biscuits for school fair

My boy's school held its annual school fair last Saturday, and I was asked to contribute some baked goods for the Western Stall. I decided to contribute an Aussie item, the Anzac biscuits, to introduce it to people in Hong Kong (locals and non-Aussie expats) who have not encountered it before. It is said that these biscuits originated around the time of World War I, when wives, girlfriends, mothers and children would bake nutritious biscuits and send them in food parcels to the Australian troops overseas. The biscuits were first called the Soldiers' Biscuits, but people started calling them Anzac Biscuits after the landing on Gallipoli, in honour of the brave fighting soldiers, the ANZACS (Australia and New Zealand Army Corps). There are no eggs in Anzac biscuits because eggs were scarce during the war, and this also meant that the biscuits would remain edible for long periods of time. I chose a well-reviewed recipe on taste.com.au, and I stayed relatively true to the recipe, resisting the urge to reduce the sugar. The resulting biscuits were too sweet for me, however I have a more sensitive tastebuds than most people, and hubby said that my biscuits were just the right amount of sweet. I baked two batches, and it all sold out, evidence that the recipe is good for the masses. I used wholewheat flour because that was what I had in my pantry, and it worked fine - the biscuits are quite textured with the rolled oats anyway, so the wholewheat flour barely made a difference.

Anzac Biscuits

Ingredients
150g (1 cup) wholewheat flour
90g (1 cup) rolled oats
85g (1 cup) desiccated coconut
155g (3/4 cup) caster sugar
125g butter
2 tablespoons golden syrup
2 tablespoons water
1/2 teaspoon baking powder

Method

1. Preheat oven to 160°C. Line 2 baking trays with non-stick baking paper.
2. Combine flour, oats, coconut and sugar in a large bowl.
3. Stir the butter, golden syrup and water in a small saucepan over medium heat until the butter melts and the
mixture is smooth. Stir in the baking powder. Add to the oat mixture and stir until well combined.
4. Roll level tablespoonfuls of the oat mixture into balls and place, about 5cm apart, on the prepared trays.
Flatten until about 1cm thick. Bake, swapping trays halfway through cooking, for 15 minutes or until light
golden. Set aside for 10 minutes to cool slightly before transferring to wire racks to cool completely.

Anzac biccies all packed and ready for sale:

I also baked a batch of brownies, because brownies are always popular, and it was one of the first items to sold out at the stall:

The Western Stall set up at the school fair. There were also other stalls selling Japanese, Korean, Chinese and Filipino food, representing the different nationalities of the students in the school. The stalls were organised by the PTA and food donated by parents. There was also a pizza stall with pizzas provided by an actual pizza shop. The fair was a success:

Apple & Carrot (First Birthday) Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

Baby girl has officially bid farewell to her infancy as she celebrates turning one year old this week. We had a low-key celebration with just the four of us and a healthy birthday cake. I feel a little guilty not doing anything bigger, but then I am reminded that we already had an early celebration with our family when we were in Sydney last month. I wanted to make a small cake for baby girl to dig into, and when I tried looking for the recipe I did for my son's first birthday (quite a few years ago, though it seemed only like yesterday), I found that I failed to post it up on my blog. So I had to search once again on the internet, looked at four or five recipes, and picked out the one that used the least amount of sugar. I then cut down the sugar even more (80%!), and used a little bit of honey to celebrate the fact that baby girl can now safely consume honey (a known source of bacteria spores that causes botulism, hence not recommended for babies under 12 months old). Though I reduced the amount of sugar, the 6-year-old loves it and hubby said it was fine. Baby girl and I prefer the cake without the cream cheese frosting but hubby and son like it with. My recipe below is a modification of this carrot & apple cake recipe, and there was enough batter for a small heart-shaped cake pan and a dozen muffin cups (or two 20cm round cake pans). The resulting cake and muffins were moist and dense, perfect as a healthful treat - or a baby's first birthday cake. If I were to make it again, I would stick to my usual muffin-making method of mixing the wet and dry ingredients separately before combining the two mixes, which ought to reduce the amount of mixing and hopefully yield a more tender crumb.

Apple & Carrot (First Birthday) Cake

Ingredients

Cake batter
300g self-raising flour
100g carrots, peeled and roughly grated
25g brown sugar
25ml raw honey
125ml light olive oil (any oil with mild flavour is suitable)
3 small apples, peeled, cored and roughly grated
2 large eggs
1 large egg white
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Cream cheese frosting
150g cream cheese, taken out of refrigerator to soften slightly
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon yogurt
(optional - 2 tablespoons icing sugar)

Method

1. Preheat oven to 160degC (180degC for conventional oven). Grease two 20cm round cake pans (or one small cake pan and a 12-cup muffin tray).
2. Put all the cake ingredients into a large bowl and mix everything together until well combined (I used my hand mixer on low speed).
3. Bake in the oven for 30 minutes or until cake feels springy to the touch or until toothpick comes out clean when inserted (if making muffins, check after 20 minutes).
4. Remove from the oven and allow to cool for ten minutes in the cake pans. Carefully remove cakes from the cake pans and cool on a cooling rack.
5. To make frosting: mix the cream cheese, vanilla extract, yogurt and icing sugar (if using) until smooth and well combined.
6. Frost the cake as you wish (or not), and enjoy like my daughter did!

The dense, moist texture of the cake:

6 Years Old!

My boy turns six very soon, and we held a celebration on Saturday with some of his friends. Last year's celebration - just a month before my girl's birth - was supposed to be the final one for a couple of years, as I wasn't sure how capable I would be to do one while caring for an infant. But mother's guilt got to me. Especially after my son - who has been counting down the days to his birthday for the past two months - said that he was looking forward to playing with his friends on the bouncy castle and the ride-on cars. I did tell him that I might not be able to do it this year, as we will be hopping on the plane the day after his birthday, and he accepted this with astounding maturity. I decided to put myself to the test anyway, and organised a somewhat last minute birthday party for my son (invites were sent out only two weeks prior). As with previous years, I hired a bouncy castle and a couple of ride-on cars (but I have a feeling that this will be my last time doing a party in this format as my boy will outgrow the rental toys by next birthday). The weather was perfect (the weather forecast for early showers did not eventuate), there was plenty of food for everyone (phew!), and the kids had loads of fun.

Hired out our residence's barbecue court, and some rental bouncy castle and ride-on cars:

As for the boy's cake, it was a no-brainer decision to do a Star Wars themed cake as that is his current obsession (thanks to hubby). In the week before the party, I found out that one of his little friends has allergies to eggs, dairy and gluten, and along with my boy's nut allergy, I had the gargantuan task of making a cake that would suit them. Hubby said from the beginning that I should to stick to my plan to bake the usual cake and make some gluten-free cupcakes for the little friend, but I hate excluding anyone with special requirements (having dealt with it myself for almost six years), at least not without giving it a go first. So I tried making a gluten-free, egg-free, dairy-free and nut-free cake, but unfortunately the cake mix I used wasn't suitable for a large cake - it was fudgy and moist in the centre even after two hours of baking (hence the standard toothpick test indicated the cake was not cooked) but the edges had baked rock hard. With so little time, I ditched the idea of making a gluten-free Darth Vader cake, and made gluten-free cupcakes instead. Instead of building the cake from scratch, I ordered a Darth Vader cake pan from the US to help make my life a bit easier. The decorating instructions that came with the cake pan proved too fiddly, so I decorated it the way I felt comfortable with. For the cake, I used the tried-and-true Chocolate Butter Cake recipe from joyofbaking that I've successfully used for previous birthday cakes, and it baked beautifully in the cake pan (much to my relief, as the party was on the next day!). For the frosting, I started off with a chocolate buttercream (using 1 cup butter, 3 cups icing sugar, 3/4 cup cocoa powder and 4-5 tablespoons milk) and tinted it with about eight drops of black Americolor food colouring. This gave a dark enough colour without affecting the flavour nor give people coloured teeth. Then I frosted the cake with a frosting spatula and piped the details on with a piping bag and tips. For a rushed job, it didn't turn out too badly. The boy was pleased with the cake, and there wasn't much leftover - success!

Darth Vader cake, decorated my way:

The gluten-free cupcakes were a hit with the little boy who is allergic to gluten, eggs and dairy! His mum said she had never seen him polish off anything so quickly before:

Chocolate-on-Chocolate Cupcakes

School's out for almost two months, and my productivity level for anything other than child-rearing has plummeted even further. In between caring for an increasingly mobile 7-month-old baby and keeping a rambunctious 5-year-old occupied, free time is practically non-existent. But school holiday is a great time for my boy to bond with his little sister, help around the house, and have fun in the kitchen (well, fun for him anyway; I need to work on my stress level when the kid is in our tiny kitchen). I wanted the boy to understand what is involved in making something from scratch, so on Thursday night I got him to choose a recipe from a book, and yesterday afternoon we went to the supermarket together to pick up the items. After we came home, he measured each ingredient according to the recipe (with my help, as we had to halve the recipe), and then we baked the Chocolate-on-Chocolate Cupcakes adapted from the recipe in The Australian Women's Weekly Allergy-free cooking for kids book that was gifted to us a couple of years ago. The boy enjoyed the process, and loved eating his creation!

I reduced the sugar a little, and added a couple of teaspoons of orange oil to add a depth of flavour to the chocolate. The resulting cake was still too sweet even without the icing, so I will reduce the sugar even more next time.

Chocolate-on-Chocolate Cupcakes

Ingredients

100g butter, softened
1 cup (150g) self-raising flour
2 tablespoons (20g) cocoa powder
1/2 cup (100g) caster sugar
90mL milk
1 egg
1 egg white
2 teaspoons orange oil

Icing
1/2 cup (80g) icing sugar
1/2 tablespoon cocoa powder
1 tablespoon water

Method

1. Preheat oven to 180degC (160degC if using fan-forced oven), and line a 12-hole 1/3-cup (80mL) muffin pan with paper cases.
2. Beat butter in large bowl with electric mixer until pale. Beat sifted flour, cocoa and half of the sugar alternately with milk into the butter, in two batches until combined.
3. Beat egg and egg white with electric mixer until thick and creamy. Gradually add the remaining sugar, one tablespoon at a time, and beating until sugar dissolves between additions.
4. Gradually beat egg mixture and orange oil into flour mixture until combined.
5. Using a tablespoon, drop batter into each paper case until two-thirds full.

6. Bake for about 20 minutes, then remove from the muffin pan to cool on a wire rack.
7. Make the chocolate icing by sifting the icing sugar and cocoa into a small bowl, and stir in water. Spread icing on cooled cakes.

Hot Cross Buns II

This weekend I got my Easter baking on, and baked a batch of my Hot Cross Buns. The last time I made these, I noted how crumbly the buns got after more than one day out of the oven, and wondered if using strong flour would make any difference by taking advantage of its gluten-forming properties. For this batch, I experimented with using a mixture of strong flour and plain flour with a 2:1 ratio, as an attempt to improve the texture while retaining a tender crumb. It's still too early to tell if it was a success, as it's only been a few hours since the buns were baked, but the boys enjoyed the buns fresh out of the oven and slathered with butter. The texture was more bread-like than the original recipe, and tomorrow I will find out if strong flour solves the problem of the crumbly texture.

Hot Cross Buns II

Makes a batch of 12 buns, or 16 smaller buns

Ingredients

Dough
2 cups (275g) strong flour
1 cup (150g) plain flour
2 teaspoons (6g) dry active yeast or breadmaker yeast
1/4 cup (45g) caster sugar
2-3 teaspoons ground spice (cinammon, nutmeg)
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup (120g) dried fruits (traditionally, currants are used)
1 cup (200mL) warm milk
2 tablespoons (35g) butter
1 egg

Flour paste for the cross
1/2 cup (75g) plain flour
1/3 cup (80mL) water

Glaze
1/3 cup water
2 tablespoons sugar

Method

If using dry active yeast, it needs to 'bloom' in some sugar and warm water solution (no hotter than what your hand can handle) for 10 minutes until it's frothy. If using breadmaker yeast, you can just incorporate it into the dry mix.

1) Heat the milk gently in a saucepan over medium heat until milk is warm enough to melt the butter. Melt the butter in the warm milk.
2) Measure and mix all the dry ingredients (flour, breadmaker yeast (if using), sugar, spice, salt and dried fruits) together.
3) Add the warm milk mixture, egg and bloomed yeast (if using instead of breadmaker yeast) to the flour mix and mix until dough comes together. Use floured hands to finish mixing to form a soft dough.
4) Knead the dough for 10 minutes or until the dough is smooth. (At this stage, add more flour if the dough is too wet, or add more water if the dough is too dry.)
5) Place the dough into a lightly oiled bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Set the bowl in a warm, draught-free place (I put it in my oven) for 1 to 1 1/2 hours, or until dough doubles in size.
6) After proofing, punch the dough down to expel the air, and divide into 12 even portions.
7) Line a large baking tray with baking paper. Shape each portion into a ball and place in the lined tray about 1cm apart. Set the tray aside in a draught-free place for 30minutes for its final rising.
8) In the meantime, preheat the oven to 200degC and make the flour paste by mixing the flour and water in a bowl until smooth. Add more water if paste is too thick. Spoon into a ziplock bag and snip off a corner of the bag. Pipe flour paste over tops of buns to form crosses.
9) Bake in the preheated oven for 20 to 25minutes until the buns are done. When they're ready, the buns will sound hollow when tapped on the bottom.
10) Make the sugar glaze by dissolving the sugar in hot water. Brush the tops of the buns with the glaze while the buns are still warm.

The buns are best when fresh out of the oven. You can freeze some for later.

5 Years Old!

Where did the time go? It's a little hard to believe that it has already been five years since our lives were completely changed. Back then, I had no idea that the little baby we held would grow up to have such a strong personality, a goofy nature and a sweet compassionate soul. We know he'll be a good big brother to his little sibling to be born next month. Despite being 8 months pregnant (with work commitments), I decided to go ahead with the plans to celebrate our boy's birthday, because I am not sure if I'd be able to do it for him next year or the one after. To make our lives easier, we used the same format as previously, and kept the gathering small. Putting on a barbecue party for an additional six kids and their parents was quite manageable, and the kids were entertained for hours with the ride-on toys and a bouncy castle that I'd hired from a toy rental company. The weather couldn't have been more perfect (October is one of two months when it's good to be outdoors in Hong Kong), and our boy had a great time.

Cozy gathering in our residence's barbecue court:

The kids having a ball:

Some of the barbecued food we enjoyed:

A space shuttle cake, which was perfect for our son who has a strong interest in all things astronomy. I did a similar cake for his 3rd birthday, but he is able to appreciate it more now. And making and decorating the cake is easier and quicker the second time round:

The family tradition for our boy's birthday is to go to Disneyland! He'd been looking forward to going to Disneyland for most of this year, and he could barely contain his excitement when his birthday finally arrived! I didn't take much photos as this was our fourth visit in the past three years, but if you're interested to look at more photos of Hong Kong Disneyland, click here, here and here. The boy's birthday fell on a weekday during his school's term break, so we didn't have to battle the weekend or holiday crowds, nor did he have to miss out on school (and hubby was more than happy to take a day off work to celebrate his son's birthday). Seeing my son so happy more than makes up for the sad fact that I was not allowed on all the fun rides (and honestly I was glad for the chance to rest while the boys enjoyed the rides).

A Mickey Mouse-shaped waffle for morning tea while we waited for the park to open:

With his favourite character - he even brought along his Buzz Lightyear toy which was a gift from last Christmas. (We'd told him it was too large and heavy to bring along, but he insisted that he would carry it himself - and he did!):

We caught part of the parade:

We stayed late to watch the fireworks, and saw the spooky Halloween-themed decorations come to life:

I was utterly exhausted by the time we got home after 9pm, but we had a successful birthday outing at Disneyland!

Self-frosting Nutella Cupcakes

My son graduated from kindergarten yesterday. Time seems to fly by especially fast when you have kids. He attended this kindergarten for the past two years, and I wanted to make some cupcakes to give teachers and staff. But I didn't really want to mess around with frosting, especially in this warm weather when the frosting would melt into a mess during the commute to the school. A little google search for "self-frosting cupcakes" yielded Nutella to be the most popular ingredient used for this self-frosting purpose. To be honest, it's not the prettiest looking cupcake around, however the self-frosting convenience and the promise of good flavour won over the lack of aesthetics aspect, and off I went to buy a jar of Nutella. I looked at several recipes, and the one on Fauzia's Kitchen Fun looked the nicest and several of her readers had tried the recipe with good results. I followed it relatively closely with only slight modifications because I didn't have the time to compare recipes to make one of my own. Hubby's first comment upon seeing these cupcakes was that it wasn't very good looking, but after biting into a cupcake, he said it tasted good.

Cupcakes topped with Nutella and ready for the oven:

Self-frosting Nutella Cupcakes

Ingredients

Tip: Make sure the butter and the eggs are at room temperature.

1.5 cups (180g) plain flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
112g butter
0.75 cup (150g) sugar
2 large eggs
0.5 cup (100mL) milk
1.5 teaspoons vanilla essence
Half cup of Nutella spread (I used most of a 200g jar)

Method

1. Sift the flour and baking powder.

2. Line your muffin tray with cupcake liners. Preheat oven to 170degC.

3. Beat the butter with the sugar until light and creamy.

4. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed.

5. With the mixer on low speed, alternately add the flour mixture and milk mixture, in three additions, beginning and ending with the flour. Beat until everything is just combined.

6. Pour the batter into the cupcake liners, filling up to two-thirds of the cup. On top of every cupcake, add about 1 heaped teaspoon of Nutella. Using a toothpick, swirl the Nutella into the tops of the cupcakes.

7. Bake for 15-18 minutes, or until a toothpick stuck in the batter/white part of the cupcakes comes out clean. If you stick the toothpick into the Nutella it will be gooey because the chocolate will not solidify during baking, so take care to check the white parts.

8. Remove from pan and let the cupcakes cool on a rack.

The Nutella cupcakes fresh out of the oven:

Hot Cross Buns

Just a quick one to wish everyone Happy Easter! Yesterday I got to baking bread again after what seemed like a much-too-long hiatus. I'd forgotten how therapeutic kneading dough can be. I baked my Hot Cross Buns recipe, which I will re-post below. I might try using strong flour next time I bake these and see how different it is.

Hot Cross Buns

Makes a batch of 12 buns

Ingredients

Dough
3 cups (425g) flour
2 teaspoons (6g) dry active yeast or breadmaker yeast
1/4 cup (45g) caster sugar
2-3 teaspoons ground spice (cinammon, nutmeg, allspice)
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup (120g) dried fruits (traditionally, currants are used but I used raisins)
1 cup (200mL) warm milk
2 tablespoons (35g) butter
1 egg

Flour paste for the cross
1/2 cup (75g) plain flour
1/3 cup (80mL) water

Glaze
1/3 cup water
2 tablespoons sugar

Method

If using dry active yeast, it needs to 'bloom' in some sugar and warm water solution (no hotter than what your hand can handle) for 10 minutes until it's frothy. If using breadmaker yeast, you can just incorporate it into the dry mix.

1) Heat the milk gently in a saucepan over medium heat until milk is warm enough to melt the butter. Melt the butter in the warm milk.
2) Measure and mix all the dry ingredients (flour, breadmaker yeast (if using), sugar, spice, salt and dried fruits) together.
3) Add the warm milk mixture, egg and bloomed yeast (if using instead of breadmaker yeast) to the flour mix and mix until dough comes together. Use floured hands to finish mixing to form a soft dough.
4) Knead the dough for 10 minutes or until the dough is smooth. (At this stage, add more flour if the dough is too wet, or add more water if the dough is too dry.)
5) Place the dough into a lightly oiled bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Set the bowl in a warm, draught-free place (I put it in my oven) for 1 to 1 1/2 hours, or until dough doubles in size.
6) After proofing, punch the dough down to expel the air, and divide into 12 even portions.
7) Line a large baking tray with baking paper. Shape each portion into a ball and place in the lined tray about 1cm apart. Set the tray aside in a draught-free place for 30minutes for its final rising.
8) In the meantime, preheat the oven to 200degC and make the flour paste by mixing the flour and water in a bowl until smooth. Add more water if paste is too thick. Spoon into a ziplock bag and snip off a corner of the bag. Pipe flour paste over tops of buns to form crosses.
9) Bake in the preheated oven for 20 to 25minutes until the buns are done. When they're ready, the buns will sound hollow when tapped on the bottom.
10) Make the sugar glaze by dissolving the sugar in hot water. Brush the tops of the buns with the glaze while the buns are still warm. Transfer buns to a cooling rack.

The buns are best when fresh out of the oven. You can freeze some for later.

Apple Snails (vegan-friendly)

On Saturday, my 4-year-old boy made a couple of Apple Snails in a cooking class designed for kids. The class was actually much better than I'd expected, teaching more than just how to cook and follow a recipe. It was great watching a bunch of 3- and 4-year-old kids getting their hands floury and sticky, cleaning down the work space, setting the table, and then enjoying the fruit of their labour. And they all looked so cute with their little aprons on. They also got to eat the apple in its natural form while learning about where apples come from. The Apple Snail was pretty good, and the recipe is worthy of sharing. This is a vegan recipe, and the teacher said only organic ingredients were used. A wholesome recipe that is fun to make and tastes great.

Apple Snails

The Apple Snails that were introduced to the class at the beginning of the lesson:

Makes 16

Ingredients

Dough
590g flour
10g active yeast
240mL soy milk
60g coconut oil
70g coconut sugar
3g salt
135mL water
15g ground flaxseed

Filling
40g coconut oil
800g apples
60g coconut sugar
1 tablespoon cinnamon

Glaze
Coconut milk

Eyes
Big tapioca pearls
Black chia seed

Method

Dough
1. Make a flax egg by combining 15g of ground flaxseed with 135mL of cold water in a blender.
2. Heat soy milk, coconut oil and coconut sugar until coconut oil is melted.
3. Combine yeast and half of the flour in a mixing bowl. Turn mixer on low and slowly pour in the soy milk mixture. Add in the flax eggs. Mix on medium speed for 5 minutes.
4. Add in remainder half of flour slowly when dough has come together. Use your hands to knead the dough. Put dough into an oiled large bowl. Cover with cling film. Let rise for 2 hours until doubled.
5. Knead dough and divide into eight pieces. Let rise again for 15 minutes before use.

Filling
Combine all filling ingredients in a pan and heat while stirring for 15 minutes. Let cool before use.

See photos below for a clear demonstration of how to make the snails.

Glaze
Brush rolled snails with coconut milk before baking at 180degC for 18 minutes.

Eyes
Boil tapioca pearls according to instructions. Use chia seed to make pupils.

Due to the fact that the lesson was only one hour duration, the dough and apple filling were prepared ahead of time:

The kids were encouraged to poke and prod the dough to get a feel of the texture and squishiness of it:

On a floured surface, flatten the dough into a rectangular shape. The kids were given a template to work on:

Spread on the prepared apple filling, leaving room at the edges:

Starting from the edge closest to you, roll up the dough (shown in the background). The class used a snail template, but it wasn't necessary:

Carefully cut the roulade into two. The knife that my boy used was a child-friendly knife that doesn't have a sharp edge; it cuts by using the back-and-forth motion:

Flip the pieces so that the cut side is facing up. Press down lightly to flatten:

Brush rolled snails with coconut milk:

Baking the snails at 180 deg C for 18 minutes:

Setting the table with fork, spoon, knife and plate. My boy was the only one who chose the same colour for all utensils and plate; the other children had more colourful choices:

The finished Apple Snails - cute, delicious and healthy: