Ivory sweets

BRIOCHE BREAD

Ingredients:
Milk 1 cup
Powdered milk 3tbsp (optional)
Yeast 2tsp
Sugar 36g
Flour 375g
Salt 1tsp
Egg 1
Butter 42g

Procedure
- in a mixing bowl, pour the warm milk, yeast and 1tbsp of sugar then leave to prove(it will turn foamy) for 10-15mins.
- in another bowl, pour in flour, powdered milk, sugar, salt, butter and mix all together till it resemble coarse cornmeal.
- in the first mixing bowl, after the proofing time of the yeast, pour egg and add the flour mixture to it gradually(little by little) and mix till a dough is form.
-transfer the dough to a working table and knead the dough till smooth and strechy(the dough should not be sticky).
- Put the dough into an already oiled bowl, cover and leave for 1hr.
- bring out the dough from the bowl and cut into 8 equal sizes, roll each into a ball and arrange neatly in a baking pan.
- cover again to rest for 40mins or until It doubled in size.
- Put water in your oven (enough to create steam)
- egg wash the dough (brush the dough surface with egg) and bake for 15-20mins
- bring out from the oven, brush with melted butter(for that shinny look and additional rich taste) then enjoy your brioche bread with tea.

Homemade Shortbread Cookies

These Homemade Shortbread Cookies melt in your mouth when you try them. They are so milky and buttery, not overly sweet and easy to make at home. Only 4 ingredients needed for shortbread cookies!

Ingredients
1 cup unsalted butter (225g) it has to be butter and not margarine.
2 cups flour (250g)
½ cup icing sugar
½ teaspoon salt
Instructions
Preheat your oven to 350 Degrees Farenheit. Grease a baking tray or line with parchment paper and set aside.
Put room temperature butter and sugar in a bowl. Use a fork or wooden spoon to mix together until well combined.

Add in half of your flour and the salt. Mix together. The mixture will be very crumbly at this stage.

Add in the remaining flour and mix well. Use your hand to combine everything to form a ball of dough.

Wrap dough in a plastic wrap and try to form it into a rectangle as much as you can with your hand. It should be about half an inch thick.

Now place the dough in a fridge and let it cool for about 30 minutes. You need to do this so you can shape your cookies properly. While the dough is in the fridge, preheat oven to 350 degrees F (180 degrees C).Take out dough and roll with a rolling pin to about ¼ inch thick. Leave the plastic wrap on while doing this.

Now open the wrap then you cut the dough into rectangles. If you have a cookie cutter, you could just use it to cut to desired shapes.
Place your cuts on trays lined with parchment paper.

Use a fork to poke each piece a couple of times.
Now bake in the oven for about 10 minutes until light golden in color. Hope you learnt something.

HOW TO MAKE GIZDODO
INGREDIENTS

4 Ripe Plantains(Diced)

500g of Gizzard

5 plum size tomatoes

2 medium-sized onions

2 habanero pepper

4 red bell pepper

1 yellow bell pepper(chopped)

1 green bell pepper(chopped)

Vegetable oil for frying

2 seasoning cubes

1 tbsp of Curry Powder

1/2 tsp of thyme

Salt to taste

DIRECTION

First thing first, wash the gizzards till they thoroughly clean.

Put the washed gizzards inside a pot, add one of the onions by dicing it, one seasoning cube, thyme, curry powder and salt to taste. Add some water to the gizzards and cook for about 30 minutes or until it becomes tender.

Pour the vegetable oil into a frying pan heat on a burner and fry gizzards till brown, remove it from the oil and set aside.

Diced one of the red bell pepper, one onion and set aside.

Blend the tomatoes, habanero pepper, the remaining red bell pepper, and onion into a puree.

Boil the pepper puree till the water content has evaporated.

Add the salt to the diced plantain and fry.

Fry the chopped veggies with the remaining oil till they soften, add the boiled pepper mix, stir and fry till it thickens.

Add your curry powder, thyme, seasoning cube, and a little salt to taste.

Add your fried gizzard and stock into the sauce and keep frying, then add the plantain and allow it to fry for about 3-5 minutes.

Your delicious gizdodo is ready.

You can enjoy it alone or eaten with rice, spaghetti, couscous e.t.c.

AND -RED CAKE.

RECIPE:
1.Cake flour- 3cups leveled & Sifted
2.Cocoapowder- 2tbsp (Sifted)
3.Granulated Sugar- 2 Cups (Leveled)
4.Baking Powder- 1tsp (NOT Double Active)
5. Baking Soda-1tsp
6. Butter/Margarine - ½ Cup or 115gram
7.Vegetable Oil - 1cup
8. Red Colour - 2tbsp
9. Flavour - 1½tbso
10. White Vinegar - 1tbsp
11. Egg- 4 Pcs (Separated)
12. Buttermilk - 1 Cup

PROCEDURE
1. Preheat oven to 180oC. Lightly butter and flour and dust two 8” cake pans (Any shape is fine). Then set aside.

2. Sift together Flour, Baking Powder, Baking Soda and Cocoa Powder and Set aside
(NOTE: When you are done sifting, don’t knock the bowl on the table or floor; drop it gently)

3. Put your butter in a mixer bowl, (Either hand-held or Stand mixer is fine) and beat on fast speed until white and smooth while scrapping down the sides – about 2-3 minutes.

4. Add Sugar to the butter and continue creaming until it is combined and scattered again. Make sure you scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl while creaming as at when needed.

5. Add the Vegetable Oil (I use either Kings or Grand Oil) and beat on high speed. By now, the combination will look and feel too runny to mix but just continue mixing for like 5 minutes. It is normal because of the oil. (If it is just butter, we will mix for longer).

6. Reduce the speed by 1 and add the 4 egg yolks, one at a time and continue mixing.

7. Add the Flavour (NOTE: You may do 1 Tbsp Vanilla and ½ Tbsp Butterscoth)

8. Add the vinegar and food colour (NOTE: If you like, you may add more of red colour according to your taste. I will make the red brighter. But I like mine at 2 Tbsp).

9. Now, divide the dry ingredients into three equal batches and the buttermilk into halves. Detach the bowl from the mixer and with spatula, mix in the first batch of the dry ingredients by FOLDING IN – NOT MIXING, only to incorporate the ingredients. Then add the 1st half of the buttermilk and fold in. Add the 2nd batch of the dry ingredients and fold in, add the remaining half of the buttermilk and fold in. Add the 3rd batch of the dry ingredients and fold in and set aside.
(NOTE: I AM ASKING US TO FOLD IN SO AS TO AVOID OVER MIXING. MIXING TOO MUCH AT THIS POINT ISN’T GOOD FOR THE CAKE)

10. Whisk the egg whites until it is very white and foamy and might have filled up the container with which you are mixing it. (NOTE: IT IS ALWAYS GOOD TO WHISK UP EGG WHITES IN A STAINLESS BOWL). When you are done whisking, FOLD IN the foamy egg white into your batter which you have set aside in batches. The batter will be silky and a little bit runny.

11. Divide batter into the cake pans equally and tap gently on the table top.

12. Place in the batter into the pre-heated oven and bake for 30-35 minutes. You will know it is done when you touch the top of the cake and it springs back or when it shrink away from the pan or better still, insert a skewer or toothpick at the centre and pull out. If it comes out clean, it is done and if it comes out stained, bake a little longer like 3 minutes. Make sure you don’t over bake because it will make the cake very dry.

NOTE: I HIGHLY RECOMMEND YOU USE BUTTERMILK AND CAKE FLOUR IN THIS RECIPE AND ALSO, LET ALL YOUR INGREDIENTS BE AT ROOM TEMPERATURE.

1. BUTTERMILK ALTERNATIVE: 1Tbsp of Lemon Juice or White Vinegar inside 1 Cup measuring cup then add regular milk (Hollandia, Peak, Dano etc. (Skimmed or Whole)) to fill up the 1 cup measuring cups. That is one cup of buttermilk.

2. CAKE FLOUR ALTERNATIVE: 333g of Multipurpose Flour + 40g of Cornflour = Cake Flour