Now accepting orders for 2013 Chinese New Year

Kung Hei Fat Choy
2013 is the Year of Snake which begins on February 10, 2013 and ends on January 30, 2014. The Snake is the sixth sign of the Chinese Zodiac. It is the enigmatic, intuitive, introspective, refined and collected of the Animals Signs. Ancient Chinese wisdom says a Snake in the house is a good omen because it means that your family will not starve.

People born in the Year of the Snake are keen and cunning, quite intelligent and wise. They are great mediators and good at doing business. Therefore, you should have good luck if you were born in the Year of the Snake.

1917, 1929, 1941, 1953, 1965, 1977, 1989, 2001 and 2013 are Year of Snake


金銀滿屋 (Houseful of gold and jewelry), exclusively for Chinese New Year
This cookie is exclusively for this Chinese New Year. It has a shortbread base, rolled with hand-chopped peanuts and highlighted with a splash of apricot jam.

$23.88 for 18 pcs.
$12.88 for 8 pcs.

For more details, please visit here.

In this Christmas, the best selling cookie is Lavender Shortbread. Have you tried yet?

Now accepting X'mas order

In this coming festive season, give your families and friends a box of our homemade cookies, expressing the love and care deep from your heart. Or treat yourself in a peaceful afternoon with one of our flavorful cookies along with a hot tea, relaxing on the couch in front of a Christmas tree.

Our handmade cookies use only the finest ingredients with no added preservatives or artificial flavoring. They are light on sugar and rich in flavor, baked to the right perfection.

Please visit www.bakery22.com for all of your choices of cookies.

Order deadline is December 7, 2012.

Gift Packs

Other than Christmas, I also make gift packs for other occasions too. From Chinese New Year, Valentine's Day, Mother's Day to Baby Shower... or anything you name it. I can design your very own package as well as any baking you like.

For my overseas friends, do you know I can deliver these gifts right to your families or friend's door in Toronto on behalf of you?
Top left to right: Valentine's Day and General Occasion
Bottom left to right: Baby Shower, Christmas and Chinese New Year

Lavender Shortbread

A simple, florally fragrant and calming cookie, that melt right in your mouth.

History of Earl Grey Tea

Traditionally this is a blend of China teas or China and Indian tea scented with oil from the citrus bergamot fruit (a sort of orange). There are quite a lot of story about the name of this tea comes from.

One tale tells how a British diplomat on a mission to China, saved the life of a Mandarin and was given the recipe for this flavoured tea as a token of thanks, and as a gift to the then British Prime Minister, Earl Grey (1830-1834). Another legend says it was the Earl himself who saved the Mandarin and was given the recipe.

The name and stories may just have been a clever marketing ploy by whoever created this scented mixture.

Certainly, Earl Grey tea is very popular today. The amount of bergamot varies, and this makes an important difference to how good the tea will be.

Earl Grey Cookie

These  cookies have a heavy scent of Earl Grey tea with a hint of orange flavour.

Orange Walnut Biscotti

These biscotti were packed with walnuts and full of orange flavour. Double baked to dry and crunchy. If you are looking for a butterless biscotti, this is your choice.

Chocolate Almond Cookie

Chewy, nutty and choclataty with a hint of coffee.

Recipe originated from a traditional Italian cookie call "Strazzate", which are flavoured with Strega, an Italian herbal liquor. Alternatively, I skipped the liquor and punched up with strong coffee.

Ingredients: Ground almond, almond, coffee, chocolate chips, cocoa powder, flour and sugar.

Almond Fruit Bread

This bread is double baked to light and crispy, perfect for snack anytime day or night.
To order, click here.

Ingredients: egg white, sugar, flour, almond, cranberry and dried apricot.

Oolong Tea Lychee Jjelly

This oolong tea jelly is a new way to beat the summer. Lychee's reach flavour always the best partner with tea, the blueberry's acidic taste also balance the sweetness of the lychee in the jelly.

Oolong tea is generally referred to as "semi-fermented" tea and is principally manufactured in China or Taiwan. I use Dahongpao (大紅袍) tea in this jelly, which is a premium variety of oolong tea.

Oolong tea jelly makes an excellent dessert or snack any time day and night.

History of Madeleine

In 18th century, in the French town of Commercy, there was a girl named Madeleine, made these cakes for the Duke of Lorraine, who loved them and subsequently gave some to his daughter, Marie, the wife of Louis XV. Their popularity grew after that. Madeleine is a small sponge cake with a distinctive shell-like shape acquired from being baked in pan with shell-shaped depressions, traditionally flavored with lemon or orange. Nowadays you can see madeleines flavoured with rosewater or lavendar. So whether you enjoy them plain or dipped in your tea or coffee, these small petit fours make the perfect afternoon treat.

Blueberry Frozen Yoghurt

Catching up to use my ice cream maker before this summer end. In this frozen yoghurt, I added 1 cup of cream to make it more smooth. You can find the full recipe from this book.

 

Buttermilk Muffin with Cinnamon Sugar

This muffin have a cake-like texture similar to those making donuts, but it was baked instead of fried.

Ingredients for the muffin:
105g  Unsalted Butter
125g  Sugar
1  Large Egg
235g  All-purpose Flour
1-1/2 teaspoon Baking Powder
1/2 teaspoon Baking Soda
1/2 teaspoon  Salt
1/2 teaspoon   Freshly Grated Nutmeg
1/2 cup  Buttermilk

Ingredients for the topping:

100g  Sugar

1 tablespoon  Ground Cinnamon

2 tablespoon  Unsalted Butter

Preheat the oven to 350F. Lined 10 standard muffin cups with butter. Fill the unused space in the pan with water to prevent warping.

In a bowl, use an electric mixer on medium speed to cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the egg, beat until well mixed and smooth.

In another bowl, stir together the dry ingredients. Add to the butter mixture in two increments, alternatively with the buttermilk. Stir just evenly moistened, do not over mix and the batter will look slightly lumpy.

Spoon the batter into each cup to three-fourth full, you may get 9 or 10 muffins, depends on how full you fill. Bake until golden and dry for 20-25 minutes. A toothpick should comes out dry when you inserted into the centre. Transfer the muffins to a wire rack and let cool.

To make the topping, stir together the sugar and cinnamon in a shallow bowl. Melt the butter in another bowl and get ready. By holding the bottom of a muffin, dip the top into the melted butter, turn to coat evenly. Then immediately dip the top into the cinnamon sugar, coating it evenly as well. Then tap off excess sugar, transfer to the rack and let cool. Repeat with the remaining muffin.

Tips
If you do not have buttermilk, you can substitute with 90 ml plain yogurt and 30 ml milk.

*******************************

This recipe was retrieved from this book, "Muffin" by William-Sonoma. You can find this book from Amazon or by clicking the following link.

The Williams-Sonoma Collection: Muffins

What is the difference between muffin and cupcakes

Muffins and cupcakes are quite different. People use to think muffin should have a peak top, then you are wrong.
The peak was formed by over mixing the batter, thus gluten was formed to trap the air inside while baking. The best muffin should just combine the dry and wet ingredients, then pan and bake.

Baking measure conversion chart

Volume to weight conversion table

Butter
1/4 cup (60 ml) = 60 g
1/3 cup (80 ml) = 75 g
1/2 cup (125 ml) = 115 g
1 cup (250 ml) = 225 g

Flour (All-purpose & whole wheat)
1/4 cup (60 ml) = 35 g

1/3 cup (80 ml) = 50 g

1/2 cup (125 ml) = 75 g

1 cup (250 ml) = 150 g

Granulated Sugar

1/4 cup (60 ml) = 50 g

1/3 cup (80 ml) = 65 g

1/2 cup (125 ml) = 105 g

1 cup (250 ml) = 210 g

Packed Brown Sugar

1/4 cup (60 ml) = 50 g

1/3 cup (80 ml) = 70 g

1/2 cup (125 ml) = 105 g

1 cup (250 ml) = 210 g

What is a Red Velvet Cake

Red velvet cake usually comes with dark red, bright red or red-brown colour. The reddish-brown colour was originally comes from the chemical reaction of cocoa powder and the acidity of buttermilk. The redder the cake, the more food colouring you put into.

This cake used to prepared as a layer cake, and now is more popularly appears in cup cake form, commonly topped with cream cheese frosting.

Perfect Ice Cream Recipe

From Publishers Weekly
Lebovitz, a former Chez Panisse pastry chef and author of The Great Chocolate Book, credits his "first and craziest, most insane summer job"— as an ice cream scooper at a soda fountain—with inspiring his lifelong devotion to ice cream. The author's 25 years of experience as a frozen-dessert maker are put to excellent use in this wittily written, detailed volume. Step-by-step photos and advice on selecting an ice cream machine will reassure ice cream amateurs. Experts and novices alike will appreciate tips for selecting the best citrus and creating unusual but complementary pairings (apricots go nicely with Olive Oil Ice Cream). An impressive array of flavors is available for the making, like Chocolate Peanut Butter Ice Cream, Vanilla Frozen Yogurt, Fresh Fig Ice Cream and Pear Pecorino Ice Cream. Sorbet, sherbet and granita also are explored in depth, as are ice cream "vessels," such as brownies and crepes. Great photos and plenty of practical advice combine to make this an appealing and useful resource for the dessert aficionado. (May)

Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Mother's Day Gift Pack

It's time for you to thank your mother who took her time caring for you and help you through your life's challenge. Celebrate Mother's Day by showing your appreciation for your mother by giving her this flowery sweet cookie box.

This gift pack comes with 18 lavender short breads, decorated with 2 hand crafted marzipan carnations. She would never forget the fragrance, the sweetness and the love you give her this year.

This year's Mother's Day is May 13 (Sunday) and the order deadline is May 5 (Saturday).

Each nicely wrapped box is $25.

*Actual gift pack may varies.

Bakery 22 supports Shania's Sunflower of Hope Fun Fair

In April 2012, all of your baking orders' earning* will proceed to this fund-raising event.
Shania's Sunflower of Hope Fund is a fund to raise money to support Neuroblastoma Research at SickKids Hospital.
For further information about this fund and Fun Fair, please visit http://shaniasunflower.ca/

*Minus cost.

The best bread machine book

300 Best Canadian Bread Machine Recipes
The ultimate collection of outstanding bread machine recipes.

Donna and Heather's bread machine books have sold over 300,000 copies and their last effort, 250 Best Canadian Bread Machine Baking Recipes, was a bestseller.

Bread machines are more popular than ever and this new edition will contain 50 new recipes. With these bread machine recipes, you'll be able to enjoy one of life's great pleasures, home-baked bread. You'll find everything from traditional favorites to innovative recipes that reflect today's tastes. Tons of tips and techniques guide you along with handy glossaries that will help you with baking terms.

All the recipes have been developed and tested with Canadian flour ensuring reliable results every time. Most recipes accommodate 1.5-lb and 2-lb machines and there are even 50 recipes for 3-lb machines as well as recipes for pasta, cakes and cookies.

 

 You can buy this book from Amazon

What is a Real Bread?

Real Bread is made with simple, natural ingredients, proven over many centuries to be a beneficial part of the human diet.

The majority of the bread that is produced commercially is made in large factories using artificial additives and often large doses of salt and fat. High speed mixing, high levels of yeast and perhaps a lacing of enzymes are employed to force the dough to rise quickly, rather than allowing the bread to ferment and ripen in its own good time. These products may well then be sprayed with chemicals such as calcium propionate to prevent the growth of mould.

Expensive marketing may tempt us with ‘healthier’ factory loaves but these are usually not very different from standard lines, except you will probably be charged a premium for the privilege of a few further additions to the ingredients list.

*Content retrieved from Real Bread Campaign in UK.

The difference between ice cream, gelato, sherbet and sorbet

Ice cream are custard base, meaning the mixture is made of eggs, diary, flavor and of course, sugar. Some ice cream use whipped cream to introduce air into it, makes the ice cream more fluffy and light. Premium ice cream has very little to no air added into it.

Gelato is Italian ice cream, has no air at all. Gelato usually include more egg yolks, more milk and less cream. It actually has less fat than regular ice cream, but gelato's low overrun makes for an extremely dense, rich and creamy treat.

Premium ice cream and gelato are so dense that they require a higher serving temperature, at a point that it is easy to scoop but not melt immediately.

Sorbet and sherbet are cousins of ice cream, whose tastes rely on fresh fruits and flavorful liquids. Sorbets do not contain any milk or egg, it is made by incorporating air into the fruit purée or juice as it freezes in an ice-cream maker.

Sherbet is similar to sorbet, which is made with fruit and juice too, but it may also contain a minimal amount of milk. Sherbet tends to be coarser in texture than ice cream.

I recommend this book

French Angel Cake

French style angel cake use both egg white and yolks, while American style just use egg whites. It is spongy, airy, yet slightly dense and sturdy cake. It has a delightfully different texture, richer than the American style but lighter and firmer than a typical layer cake.

Organic crystallized ginger

This is the hero behind the Ginger and Macadamia Nuts cookies, now on sale in my Etsy shop.

These are certified organic crystallized ginger coated with organic sugars. It is moist and soft, with a delicious pungent, spicy and sweet flavor. It makes a good snack, flavoring your tea, chopped and mix with yogurt or ice cream, sprinkle on your salad...

Benefits of ginger
It cures morning sickness, motion sickness remedy, reduces pain and inflammation, heartburn remedy and flu prevention.

Treatment of ginger has long been used as a natural treatment for stomach flus or food poisoning, which is not surprising given the positive effects ginger has upon the digestive tract. In Chinese medicine, ginger tea is used in the treatment of menstrual cramps.

To order, please visit here.

Valentine's Day Gift Pack

Valentine's Day Gift Pack first peek. More details to come, stay tuned.

Lemon Blueberry Bread

This bread use minimal amount of butter and heavily loaded with organic blueberries, highlighted the taste with organic lemon zest. As usual, a very low sugar too but enough to balance the berries. The lemon zest gives a hint of freshness to either brighten up your morning or a lazy afternoon.

On top of that, blueberry has the highest antioxidant capacity of all fresh fruit, which easily boost up your immune system and prevent infections.

Happy Chinese New Year!

2012 Chinese New Year - Year of the Dragon (January 23rd)

People who born in 1928, 1940, 1952, 1964, 1976, 1988 and 2000 belongs to the Year of Dragon.

The characteristics of the Dragon sign are tempered by one of the five Chinese elements of metal, wood, water, fire and earth, overlaying a 5-year cycle of characteristics on the original 12-year cycle. 2012 is the Water Dragon year.

Water has a calming effect on the Dragon's fearless temperament. Water allows the Dragon to re-direct its enthusiasm, and makes him more perceptive of others. These Dragons are better equipped to take a step back to re-evaluate a situation because they understand the art of patience and do not desire the spotlight like other Dragons. Therefore, they make smart decisions and are able to see eye-to-eye with other people. However, their actions can go wrong if they do not research or if they do not finish one project before starting another.

People born under the Dragon are passionate, brave and self-assured. At their best they are pioneering spirits; at their worst, they epitomize the old adage: Fools rush in where angels fear to tread. Dragons are generous with their resources, a tendency that at its most negative can reflect a foolhardy attitude towards money. But Dragons in general are blessed with good fortune. They are smart, enterprising and have a wicked sense of humor. They have a natural flair for fashion and are the people to consult if you want to catch up on the latest trends.

2012 Chinese New Year

The coming Chinese New Year of 2012 is on January 23rd (Monday). Next year is the Year of Dragon.

Now we are accepting overseas and local Chinese New Year order. Order deadline is January 12th (Thursday).

2012 New packing design