Gingerbread Beer

It's that time of the year, the end of it. Next comes 2020, the year that as teenagers we thought would be a million years away. Well it's finally coming and I don't think I'm ready for it. but looking back at the year, so much has happened and I am grateful, although I'm still not ready for another year, a new decade.

You've probably heard that out of every bad situation something good comes out of it. Well, it clearly happened to me this year. It was during a gloomy situation(s) in my life that I learned to make my own sourdough starter. It happened because of the negative situation, not just in spite of it.

It was the lowest point that gave birth to my new hobby of sourdough bread making. And it was from my reading and research about sourdough that I came to know about ginger bug. I started making my own ginger bug and producing lovely fizzy probiotics drinks that the whole family enjoy.

I won't post much about making a ginger bug. It's basically just adding shredded ginger and sugar to distilled water, feeding it everyday and waiting for it to produce bubbles. It took me about 8 days before I see good signs of fermentation. It's been alive and well until today. And hopefully I can keep it alive for a long while more.

Before this, through my kitchen experiments, I found that brewing some spices with Rooibos tea produces this drink that somewhat has the hints of root beer flavours. So when I when had this ginger bug going I knew I had to try adding it to this drink.     

To me, it's a little bit like root beer. But I can't call it root beer cause it doesn't have sarsaparilla or any of the required "roots". My little girl calls it "ginger cola". I was thinking since it's almost Christmas and it has the ingredients of gingerbread, let's call it Gingerbread Beer. (By the way, I also have been baking so many gingerbread men and houses that I'm beginning to smell like it.)

Below, you can see the ingredients I used. It's pretty simple. Orange (peel only), Rooibos tea, star anise, cinnamon, and ginger. I also used blackstrap molasses for colour and flavour but I believe black treacle would work just as well.

The thing that still perplexes me is that sometimes it's foamy, sometimes it's not. At the time when I took this shot, unfortunately the drink wasn't foamy. But I didn't have time to make another batch so I just went ahead and shot it. Besides, it was still super fizzy.

So here's wishing everyone a Blessed Christmas and Happy New Year! And if you're as unexcited as I am about going through another year, maybe you should try this drink and chill back a little. Tell yourself it's gonna be okay....

If you dare to try, here's the recipe for the Gingerbread Beer. Cheers!

Black Sesame Ice Cream

The nice thing about making your own ice cream is that you can have the flavours that you can't find in the supermarkets. Black sesame is one such example. I've had it at gourmet restaurants but never found it anywhere for sale.

Black sesame also has many health benefits. One of them is to restore and maintain black hair. This is a motivation for me of course, since quite a few strands of grey are sprouting from my head!

That aside, this is a lovely recipe. It turns out soft with a nice nutty flavour. It's something different that's really worth trying. So here's the recipe for you (no ice cream maker has been used in creating this dessert):

Banana Oats Muffins

I used to bake a lot. However, I haven't had much time for it since having a kid. I'm glad that lately I'm starting to bake more. How about having a curious toddler in the kitchen? I think it's great since I very much prefer it to sitting in front of the TV watching Barney or Mickey Mouse (no offense to both).

 

So it was a Thursday evening, after work that I made these very quick and easy muffins. The tot's chore was to sift the flour, some of which ended on the flour.

 

 

She tested some, and after that fed some to Smurf. I think the verdict is good, from both of them.

 



Recipe adapted from Oatmeal Banana Raisin Muffins

I Scream for Ice Cream!

I've been dreaming about homemade ice-cream lately. I've tried a few recipes but the end product were not as soft and creamy as what we get from the supermarket. And I wasn't quite ready to splurge on fresh cream, which is not cheap where I live.

So I decided to try using the evaporated milk method. And here's the result.
Taa... daa!!



 
I was happy to find that the end product was soft and could be easily scooped out straight after removing from the freezer without having to leave it to thaw.

I had a quick taste after the short photography session. The verdict: texture is lovely but unfortunately it's a little too sweet for me. Perhaps I should reduce the sugar or add some dark chocolate to balance the sweetness. Next time, then. For those who have a sweet tooth however, this should be a lovely treat. Here's the recipe:

 

Ingredients

1 can ( 400g ) evaporated milk
½ cup soft brown sugar
1 sachet of chocolate malt drink powder (3 in 1)

Instructions:

1. Chill the milk in the fridge overnight.

2. Mix a small amount of the milk with the chocolate malt powder.

3. Pour the rest into a large mixing bowl with the sugar and whip until fluffy.

5. Add in the chocolate malt mix and continue beating.

6. Place the bowl in the freezer for an hour.

7. Pull out from the freezer and whip for 1 minute and back to the freezer.

8. Repeat about 4 times.

9. Place in a container with a lid and store in the freezer.