#51 - Rainbow Popsicles

You know that it is summer time when you are craving for something icy cold and refreshing like these homemade popsicles! Yay to homemade goodies! Don't you just love homemade food like I do? The beauty of these homemade goodies are that they are free from sugars and artificial flavourings. You don't even have to worry about additional colourings or chemicals being added. These rainbow popsicles are made with just fruits and nothing else! Isn't it just great!

These popsicles are so easy to make that I am sure you will enjoy making them as much as you enjoy eating them!

I simply love how pretty these little things look! To make these pretty yummies, you need nothing more than different types of fresh fruits and a blender. That's it! You can also get creative by arranging the layers of fruits puree in any order you prefer. 

What are you waiting for? Head straight into your kitchen and make some of these pretty rainbow popsicles now! 

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Recipe: Adapted and modified from here

Free printable version of recipe - Click here

Servings

8 Popsicles (depending on size of the mould)

Ingredients
Strawberries (blended) - 200g

Oranges (blended) - 200g

Pineapples (blended) - 200g

Kiwis (blended) - 200g

Blueberries (blended) - 200g

(Optional)

Coconut Water -1 to 2 Tbsp

Method

1. For each of the different coloured fruits layers (red - strawberries, orange - oranges, yellow - pineapples, green - kiwis, blue - blueberries), place the fruits in the blender and blend until a smooth puree is obtained. Remember to wash the blender thoroughly before blending the next layer. 

2. For fruits like the pineapples and blueberries, you may wish to add in 1 to 2 tbsp of coconut water to allow smoother blending of the puree. 

3. Distribute the different coloured fruits puree evenly into the popsicles mould, layer by layer. 

4. Freeze the popsicles for at least 6 hours (or overnight) until the popsicles are firm. 

5. To remove popsicles from their moulds, dip moulds in glass of water for 10 seconds. This will ensure the popsicles come out smoothly from the moulds. Serve while popsicles are firm. 

#29 - Butterscotch Orange Cookies

Are you having a craving for something sweet and crunchy and yet you are sick and tired of the regular chocolate chips cookies? If you are feeling just like I do, try these! 

Due  to my previous craze in baking any butterscotch related recipes (eg. Salted Oatmeal Scotchies with Chocolate Chips & Butterscotch Molten Lava Cake), I have bought these bags and bags of butterscotch morsels, all stocked up in my baking pantry. It has been a long time since I have paid any attention to them. At last, I decided that it was time! Time to turn these pretty little morsels into something crunchy and yummy!

I actually baked 2 batches of these cookies, one batch on Sunday night and the other on Monday morning. The first batch was baked for 10 minutes (with 2 eggs in the recipe) and it resulted in a soft and chewy texture in the cookies when cooled. As for the second batch, due to hubby's request for a crunchier version, I baked them for an extra 3 minutes (with only 1 egg in the recipe) and with that, the cookies was slightly firmer yet provide a really good crunch to it. So, depending on your preference, you may vary the baking time accordingly. Just make sure you check on them regularly and do not over baked the cookies. You wouldn't want them to be all bitter and hard, would you?

And oh yes, if you would like your cookies to be flat like the Subway version, just follow the recipe below but to use two eggs instead of one.  That should do the trick. It works for me! I was pretty pleased with the final texture and taste of the cookies and was definitely more than happy to share them with my friends and students. Am so glad that they enjoyed it as much as I do.

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Recipe: Adapted and modified from here

Servings

Make approximately 4 dozen cookies

Ingredients

1 and 1/2 cup All Purpose Flour

2 tsp Baking Powder

1/2 tsp Salt

1 cup Butterscotch Morsels

113 grams Unsalted Butter, softened

80 grams Granulated Sugar

80 grams Brown Sugar

1 Egg

2 tbsp Milk

1 tsp Vanilla Extract

1 tbsp Orange Juice

Zest of 1 Orange

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 180C.

2. Prepare 2 baking sheets, lined with baking paper. Set aside for later use.

3. Sift and combine all the dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, salt). 

4. In a small bowl, toss 1/2 cup of butterscotch morsels with 2 tablespoon of flour mixture in Step (3). The will ensure that the butterscotch morsels will be evenly distributed throughout the batter. Leave aside the remaining butterscotch morsels to serve as toppings on the cookies later.

5. In a mixer bowl, cream together butter with both sugars until creamy.

6. Add in egg, milk, vanilla extract, orange zest and orange juice gradually and beat until smooth. 

7. Combine dry ingredients in Step (3) to the wet ingredients in Step (6), one third portion at a time and mix well.

8. Add in butterscotch morsels in Step (4) to the batter. Use a spatula to mix well. Ensure that all the ingredients are well-incorporated.

9. Using a small ice-cream scoop, scope and divide the dough into small portions (ball-shaped). Place them on the baking trays. Ensure that they are at least 3 cm apart from one another. Top each cookie dough portion with several butterscotch morsels.

10. For a soft and chewy texture in the cookies, bake for 10 minutes or until the edges of the cookies start to turn light golden brown. For a crunchier texture in the cookies, bake for an extra 3 minutes. 

11. After removing cookies from oven, allows the cookies to cool on the baking trays for 5 minutes before transferring them to a cooling rack to cool completely.

#27 - Citrus Baked Fish

This is just a very simple baked fish recipe to share with all. Nothing too complicated at all and basically, it's just the oven doing all of the work. Personally, I like the tangy taste of the baked fish and since not much seasoning is used at all, it feels like a pretty healthy dish to me. Kudos to that!

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Recipe: Adapted & modified from here.

Servings
2 persons

Ingredients

Fish of your choice (I used a combination of salmon and cod fish)
2 tsp Butter
1 tsp Olive Oil
1 clove Garlic (minced)
Sea Salt
Ground Black Pepper
1 Lemon & 1 Orange (sliced)
Parsley

Directions

1. Preheat your oven to 190C.

2. Line baking sheet with aluminium foil and coat with cooking spray.

3. Combine butter, olive oil, minced garlic and spread the mixture evenly over the fish.

4. Season with salt and black pepper to taste.

5. Place a layer of lemon & orange slices over the fish.

6. Bake for 5mins. Remove from oven and sprinkle with parsley before serving.