My Ultimate Burger!

Ahh.. You just can't go wrong when you have burgers topped with lotsa cheese and crispy onion ring, can ya? haha.. Well, this is our ULTIMATE HOMEMADE BEEF BURGER.. Well, ultimate according to us laa.. kalau orang lain, tak tahu la pula.. These patties are tender and juicy and succulent. So, today, I am gonna put up the recipe for these delectable, (though maybe not THAT appealing to the eyes), yummylicious homemade pattties which is the main and important thing when making burgers.. So, here goes..

HOMEMADE BEEF PATTIES

Bahan-bahan:

1 kg daging cincang

2 biji bawang holland / bawang bombay - didaduk kecil

lada hitam

jintan manis

jintan putih

ketumbar

serbuk paprika

dried oregano

kicap manis

sos worchestershire

breadcrumbs

1 biji telur

sedikit tepung jagung

Cara-caranya:

1. Lada hitam, jintan manis, jintan putih dan ketumbar disangai kering atas api kecil kemudian ditumbuk halus. Lebih mudah dan cepat jika ada grinder. Sukatan agak-agak la ye.. Mungkin boleh cuba dalam setengah sudu besar bagi setiap rempah. Boleh juga kalau nak pakai yang siap serbuk tapi kurang sedap laa..
2. Masukkan semua bahan termasuk rempah ratus yang ditumbuk halus tadi. Gaul sehingga semua bahan mesra dan sebati. Bentukkan menjadi beef patties.
3. Sebaiknya disimpan di dalam peti sejuk lebih kurang 15 - 30 minit sebelum dimasak. Boleh juga disejukbekukan untuk dijadikan stok.

These link, link and link here provide articles on what you should and shouldn't do to get good burgers.. Well, my 2-cents advice would be to use them as a guideline, but hey.. whatever works for you and your family, should be A-ok.. For example, I would imagine 80-20 lean meat/fat ratio would give a tremendous, juicy and succulent result for your burgers.. But I figure if you cook them right, you'd get magnificent burgers with some cheap lean meat as well.. Kebiasaannya saya ke pasar, beli daging pejal dan minta untuk dimesin.. No fat la kan.. So, I know my meat has got no 'funny' stuff added to them since they're being minced right in front of me..  

I think what makes these burgers juicy and tender is the fact that I cooked them in pre-made sauce. Haha, kire menipu la eh? To be honest, I m not very proud of the sauce cuz it's not exactly made of natural ingredients. Still trying to concoct a decent sauce made of natural ingredients. For now, the recipe below would have to suffice..

SOS BEEFBURGER

Bahan-bahannya:

Sos cili

sos tomato

kicap

madu

serbuk lada hitam

Cara-caranya:

Campurkan semua bahan di dalam mangkuk. Boleh dimasak atas api kecil jika mahu, tapi bukanlah satu kemestian.

Tip: Semasa burger separuh masak, tuangkan sos. Jadi, ada ruang dan masa untuk burger menyerap sos. Hehe, makes sense ke? Oh well, this works for me, for now..

Happy trying darls!

Toodles! 

Banana and Oats Pancake

Hallo..

Title tak mengagak, nak nama glemer je.. Walhal orang kampung panggil lempeng pisang je.. Hehe.. This was yesterday's breakfast. Alkisah, ada banyak pisang yang masak ranum.. Rezeki, jiran yang baik hati bagi.. Hajat di hati nak goreng, buat minum petang, tapi asyiklah terlupa.. Sedar-sedar, dah nak lembik dah pisang tu.. Kalau dibiar lama, masuk tong juga nanti.. Kasihan pula, lagipun tak baik buang rezeki orang bagi..

Fikir punya fikir, akhirnya mendapat inspirasi untuk membuat lempeng.. So, sajalah google resepi tu, eh ada pulak keluar result lempeng pisang oats.. Wah, ini sudah bagus.. Oats pun ada banyak lagi dalam pantry.. Hehe, I don't know about you guys out there but I always have this tendency to buy oats dengan harapan nak tukar gaya hidup.. Konon breakfast dengan oats, hidup sihat bla bla bla.... Beli tak mengagak pulak tu, paket besar terus.. Dapat 2-3 kali makan oats pepagi, semangat hidup sihat pun mulai kelam dan pudar, maka oats tersimpan kemas dan rapi je dalam pantry.. Haha.. So, when one finds a recipe to use up the oats, one eagerly jumps on the idea of trying it out..

So, here goes.. Recipe is from the famous food blogger, CMGebu of DTS.. Dia pun ambil dan olah resepi ni dari orang lain.. I pulak derhaka lagi pada resepi yang telah diderhakakan.. Memang layak dibuang negeri.. Haha.. So, ini versi double derhaka, guna apa yang ada di dapur aje..

BANANA & OATS PANCAKE

Ingredients:

250 gms ripe bananas, mashed

200 ml fresh milk

1 cup quaker oats

2-3 tbsp self-raising flour

1-2 tbsp brown sugar, *optional

a pinch of salt

A bit of butter

Steps:

1. Combine all ingredients except butter. Taste for salt.
2. Put it aside and let it rest for about 5 minutes so that the batter would thicken up just a bit.
3. Heat a non-stick pan on medium high heat and just dribble with some butter, or you can just take a clean paper towel, dip in a bit of good vegetable oil and just slightly oil the pan. Or, you can just spray the pan with one of those oil-in-aerosol can-thingy.
4. Ladle in the batter into the pan. You might want to level it with a spatula or spoon cuz the batter is kinda sticky. So, about 2-3 minutes on the first side, flip it and another minute or so on the other side. Well, basically you just want to make sure your pancake is well cooked.
5. Repeat step 3 & 4 for the remaining batter.
6. Serve with butter and maple syrup or honey if desired. A dollop of nutella would be a nice companion too.. Best served warm.

A healthy, delicious meal in the morning.. Happy cooking!

Toodles!

Chicken Nuggets

Hello dearies,

Remember I was rambling on and on about yoghurt few months back? Hehe.. So, I kept a few entries that I forgot to publish regarding how I use the yoghurt.. Here's one recipe that I cooked using that very ingredient, chicken nuggets. It's really quite easy to make.. The picture below is the baked version.. I also fried some in shallow vegetable oil.. Sorry, no picture on the fried version though.. Personally, I prefer the fried ones.. But of course, I suppose the baked ones are a  lot healthier.. hehe..

I modified the recipes techniques I posted in this entry. Here's how I cook my Chicken Nuggets..

The marinade & the dip..

1 chicken breast - fillet and cubed

Salt

1 cup cup plain yogurt

1 cup mayonnaise

1 garlic - grated finely like garlic paste

1/3 grated parmesan cheese

1. Fillet and cut your chicken into small bite sized cubes/pieces.
2. Lightly sprinkle some salt.
3. Combine yogurt, mayonnaise and garlic in a bowl. Divide the mixture by half. Add in grated parmesan in one bowl/container. Keep that one in the fridge.
4. Dunk your chicken pieces into the other half of yogurt mixture (the one without parmesan in it). Let sit in the fridge for a minimum of 1 hour. 

When it's time to cook the nuggets, take 3 shallow dishes out. I just used 2 flat plates and a shallow bowl.. 

In the first plate (Plate A), I put in these ingredients:

1 cup all purpose flour /tepung gandum

A dash of paprika

A dash of oregano powder

And in the shallow bowl (Bowl B),

2 eggs

Salt

Pepper

Lastly, in the second plate (Plate C), I put in:

1 cup breadcrumbs - baked for about 5 minutes

1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese

A few dashes of garlic powder

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 180C. Spread breadcrumbs in a baking dish and bake until golden, around 5 minutes or so.
2. Combine all ingredients in plate A, Bowl B, Plate C accordingly.
3. The following steps are a bit messy, so you might want to do one step at a time, or one batch at a time.. First, coat the chicken in Plate A, the flavoured flour, then dip in Bowl B, the eggs and lastly transfer to Plate C to coat them evenly in the flavoured breadcrumbs.
4. If you want to bake these delicious goodies, just arrange them nicely on a lightly oiled wire rack (set it inside the same baking dish you use to bake the breadcrumbs). Bake until chicken is thoroughly cooked, for about 12 - 15 minutes. Or you could just spread more bread crumbs inside the dish and arrange them nicely to bake. If you want to fry them, you have the option of using small amount of vegetable oil or deep fry them, your choice.
5. Serve hot out of the oven with your homemade dip. You may sprinkle with some salt and pepper if you like.

Note: You might want to put a small blob of butter on each nugget for that golden effect. I didn't, hence the pale color. :)

So yeah, not too hard to make, aye? Gotta love simple food like these. The dip/marinade can be made ahead of time. It should hold well in the fridge for about a week. Happy cooking.. 

Toodles!

Enchilada

Last Sunday, I woke up wanting to cook lasagne.. But a few key ingredients were missing and I was soo lazy to go to the market.. Inspiration struck, so I changed plan.. I did Mexican fusion food instead.. Enchilada.. Mexicans love their chillies.. So do us Malaysians.. Mexicans have Habanero, Ancho Chillies, Chipotle, Jalapeno, just to name a few.. Malaysians love their bird's eye chillies or cili api.. small but fiesty.. yum!

But this dish I made wasn't exactly fire-y hot.. I mean, not everyone can take a lot of heat.. So, I went a bit mild, using whatever I have in the kitchen.. So, here's my fusion recipe, with some pics.. Enjoy..

For the beef, I basically combined the recipes and techniques from this blog, plus '30 Minutes Meal' cooking show that I watched over Food Network Asia on Astro just recently (The name of the chef is Rachel something if not mistaken).. Anyway, I ended up cooking it this way..

The Minced Beef:

Ingredients:
Olive Oil
1 kilo minced beef
1 1/2 green onion (or bawang bombay)
Smoked Paprika
Serbuk jintan putih (OK tipu... sebab malas nak tumbuk/blend, taruk je dalam keadaan asal.. konon it'll give some bite.. haha)
Serbuk ketumbar
Black Pepper
Garlic Powder
Salt


*The amount of spices is based on pure instinct.. You know, a dash of this, a dash of that.. So, trust your instinct, use your nose, your eyes, your tongue untuk merasa makanan yang anda masak..

1. Heat oil, pour in minced meat.. 
2. Fry on medium heat.. Add in onions and the spices..
3. Stir just occasionally.. Bukannya masak rendang, nak kena kacau selalu.. 
4. When it looks brown and delicious.. Add in some salt..
5. Do the taste test... Grab a spoon and makan..
6. Kalau sedap, then it's done.. Kalau tawar, tambah garam.. Kalau kurang pedas, tambah paprika.. Kalau terover masin / pedas.. Hurm, pasrah je la kot.. hehe..

Note 1: What I would do differently is perhaps tumis bawang sampai agak2 layu then add in cili blender.. Tumis sampai wangi.. Then add in minced beef.. hehe.. Kalau dah tekak Melayu tu kan.. Mesti nak cili dulu, kini dan selamanya.. Hehe...
Note 2: If you like, you may add diced bell peppers as well.. Baru ada feel mexican sikit..

While waiting for the beef to brown a bit, you may prepare the sauce..


The Enchilada Sauce:

You could try to find the sauce in supermarket like Cold Storage, Jaya Supermarket etc, but it's really not that hard to make.. I followed this recipe loosely, using whatever I have in the kitchen.. So, my take on the recipe is something like below:

1/4 cup (or maybe less) vegetable oil - I used corn oil
2 tbsp butter
2 tbsp of flour (tepung gandum biasa je)
2 tbsp of chilli powder
1 can tomato soup
1 cup of hot water
1 chicken cube
Cayenne Pepper - ground
Smoked Paprika - ground
Garlic Powder
Salt to taste
Optional:
A dash of Hot sauce / Tobasco sauce
1 tbsp of tomato sauce

1. Heat oil and butter.. Whisk in flour and chilli powder until they are beautifully incorporated..
2. Add in tomato soup, hot water and chicken cube.. 
3. Add in the remaining spices..
4. I added tobasco sauce cuz I had some in the pantry.. If you don't have it, feel free to omit.. I even added in 1 tbsp of tomato sauce, just because I feel like it.. Heheh..

Now, the assembly.. You'll need:

Baking Dish
Cooked Minced Beef
Enchilada Sauce
Tortilla Bread - Beli yang brand Mission tu je.. most supermarkets sell them.. I used plain ones, but you can use garlic ke, apa ke, ikut suka
Cheese - I used mozarella and easy melt cheddar
Veges - I used sliced tomato and carrots cut into match sticks.. You may use zucchinis, bell peppers..

1. First of, preheat oven to 180C.
2. Then, take your baking dish and ladle in your sauce until the bottom is fully covered like the picture above.
3. Take a piece of tortilla.. Put about 2 - 3 tbsp full of cooked minced beef in the middle.. Scatter some veges, pour in a 1/4 ladle of the sauce, and scatter some cheese.. See picture above for reference. 
4. Roll. You can leave the ends open or tuck them nicely inside before rolling. As for me, I find it a lot easier leaving the ends open. 
5. Place seam side down in the baking dish. Repeat with the rest of the tortilla..
6. Once you're done, and the rolled tortillas have lined up snugly in your baking dish, pour in your remaining sauce.. Scatter cheese all over.. See picture below for example.
7. Bake for about 30 minutes.. 
8. Eat with a side of salad or sour cream.. Yummy..

Sorry, no picture of my baked enchilada. Well, it's basically just like the last picture, but with cheese melting all over. :) In a glance, the recipe seemed long and difficult.. But trust me, it's really not that hard.. You can even make it beforehand, and just pop it in the oven an hour before guests arrive.. Happy cooking dearies!

Toodles!

Ice Cream DIY

So it turns out, I'm not such a bummer after all.. In fact, I made ice-cream a day earlier than planned.. I found another seemingly easy 'ice-cream-in-a-blender' recipe in MyResipi.. The steps are basically just about the same, but it uses less ingredients.. There's a saying, less is more.. Or is it really? Well, we'll just have to see if that's true.. 

Ingredients:

1 cup milk (I used full cream milk)
1 cup powdered creamer
1 tbsp of honey
1 tsp of vanilla essence

Crushed graham crackers / biscuits
Crushed macadamia nuts


Steps:

1. Combine and blend everything in a blender until it is well mixed. 2 minutes should be enough, I guess..
2. Put the mixture in a container and freeze.. Since I'm using a blender with many mugs, I just put the lid on and keep it straight into the freezer. I'm sure people won't notice of one missing mug..
3. After about 2 hours or so (or before it truly freezes), take it out and blend it once again, but this time a bit longer.. For a smoother textured ice-cream, you can repeat this process a number of times. That is, if you are truly rajin to wait 2 hours & blend, and wait another 2 hours & blend.. I only did it twice.. Then I went to sleep.. The second time I put in crushed biscuits and nuts.. 
4. Freeze overnight and enjoy the next morning.. 

Note: I kinda enjoyed using the magic bullet blender.. Although not in favour of the noise it made.. But it saves me from washing few utensils, had I used the normal blender.. Gotta love that.. :)

And here is the picture of my home made ice cream in the freezer.. Sorry I don't have a proper picture of the ice cream.. I went shopping and took the mug along.. So, no picture of it sitting nicely in an ice cream cone or cup.. But hey, talk about convenience, eh? You open your freezer, take your mug of yummy ice cream, grab a spoon on your way out and off you go.. You now have something nice to eat in the car.. Haha.. Tetibe semangat buat promo tak berbayar untuk blender ni pulak..

I must say, initially I was skeptical about this recipe, cuz I've actually tried making ice cream with no machine once before, but the result wasn't as I'd hope it'd be.. And I also thought the ice cream would melt rather easily.. Surprisingly, it holds up quite well.. And the texture is also as passable as a good ice cream.. So hey, this recipe sure is a keeper.. Altho I might try to tweak it a bit, for I do have certain issues with using the coffeemate creamer.. Looking for suitable subs.. Oh well, till we meet again..

Toodles dearies!

Yoghurt

I always have this tendency to buy an odd ingredient on impulse (you know, ingredients you're not too familiar with, or very rarely use), with full on spirit to cook something, usually recipes I saw on the net.. Say buttermilk, to cook crispy fried chicken.. Mana nak cari Buttermilk kat pasar, or kedai runcit, kena gak pergi Cold Storage.. So, odd la tu kan? Once I get home, I'd put that ingredient in a fridge, then after a few days, I'd wonder what was it that I wanted to cook in the first place.. It irks me a lot, especially when the expiration date is near.. But, I'd repeat the same thing again and again.. Now, I try not to buy those odd ingredients anymore.. Kurang sikit perasaan sakit jiwa.. I try to make it a practice, 'takde masalah, jangan sibuk nak cari masalah.'.. Or 'Do not put your head under the guillotine for a cause not worth fighting for'.. Hehe.. Gila panjang translation..

But yesterday, I did it again (bummer!).. Went to a mini market to buy something else, but as I walked by the cold storage section, I saw a tub of natural yoghurt.. I thought to myself, "Hey, I need this to cook that recipe I saw on the net." I just grabbed it on impulse.. At that point, I couldn't even remember what was it that I wanted to cook.. In my head, I was envisioning chicken.. Haha.. In the car, I rummaged through the 'files' in my brain, trying to remember WHAT was the recipe and whether I've saved it, and if I did, WHERE I saved it.. 'In my laptop? In the ipad? Did I print screen it? Did I save it in my pendrive? Or my hard disk? Or just the local Documents folder? Or did I just save it as Favorite? But which PC? Or was it my laptop?' 

pic source

That is actually quite a frustrating process, REALLY!.. Much like not remembering the name of a movie, or your long lost friend's name.. It frustrates you a lot, right? Yeah, same feeling here.. Andddd, on top of that, I'm quite sure that I wanted to use yoghurt as a substitute of an ingredient in the recipe.. Yeah, which makes matters worst.. :P Oh, by the way, I didn't even buy the thing that I originally wanted to buy.. Funny, right? Hurmm..

Well, after much brain rummaging and thinking (my face was like a permanent fixture of a frown the whole day, as if the problem was too great like memikirkan masalah negara), I now know what I wanted to cook it with - Baked Chicken Nuggets with Dilly Ranch Dip.. Go on, click the link and drool.. Yummeh, kan?

I also found other similar recipes, like below:
1) Jamie Oliver Crunchy Garlic Chicken Nuggets
2) Crispy Yogurt Chicken

Ok, being real, I might end up NOT cooking those recipes after all.. So, I've prepared a back up strategy.. Which is kind of ironic.. That very evening, I saw 'Anna Olson - Fresh' on TV and she showed the simplest way of using yoghurt.. Coincident? Maybe.. Miracle? Possibly.. A sign? Haha.. Well, could be.. Of what, I wonder?

1) Summer Sunshine Smoothies

2) Fruit and Nut Muesli

Which reminds me, I can also incorporate natural yoghurt into my Fruit Salad, replacing mayonnaise.. A healthier choice, eh? Haha, suddenly ideas and inspirations come rushing in.. Oh well, Wish me luck! No wait, please wish the yoghurt the best of luck.. Hopefully it doesn't find its way into Mr Dumpster.. Huhu..

Aww, the boy is too cute, kan?

Toodles dearies.. Selamat Menyambut Maulidur Rasul.. Mari ke pasar membeli ayam.. Hehe..

No Ice Cream Machine Ice Cream

We have this set of Magic Bullet Blender at home.. Tapi entah brand apa I pun kurang pasti..  But the box states ASOTV - As Seen On TV.. Hehe.. Anyway, we rarely use it.. I hardly know why it was purchased in the first place.. Impulse buying, I guess.. Hihi.. (I didn't buy it, ye)..

Source

Anyway, I was intrigued.. An idea came to mind.. I've heard of people making ice-creams without the machine, so I wanted to try it out using this blender.. So, as usual I googled online and found some interesting results:

How to make an ice cream without an ice-cream machine:
David Le Bovits     About.com   

From these two links, I can gather that all you need is a blender, or a food processor.. The magic bullet has many cups/mugs, so I guess I can save up some steps and utensils. I also stumbled upon a recipe which does not require a machine at all, like this recipe below I took from bbc website:

Vanilla Ice Cream

source : bbc.co.uk

This easy recipe for creamy vanilla ice cream doesn't require an in ice cream maker.

Ingredients:

2 vanilla pods

500 ml / 16 fl oz double cream

70 g / 3 oz sugar

3 egg yolks

• 
  

Preparation method:

1. Halve the vanilla pods length ways and scrape out the seeds. Add the pods to the cream and bring to the boil, then add the sugar and stir until the sugar has dissolved.
2. Meanwhile, whisk the egg yolks in a large bowl then slowly whisk in the hot cream mixture.
3. Pour the mixture through a fine sieve into another bowl and whisk in the vanilla seeds. Pour the mixture into a freezer-proof container and freeze for 2-3 hours, or until set.

Note: Due to the absence of milk in this recipe, the ice cream does not crystallise in the freezer bowl. So there's no need to stir it. Ideal for anyone without an ice cream maker.

Here's more recipes which I found yummy.. 
Recipes:

Savory Sweet Life - Easy Home Made Vanilla Ice Cream

Simply Recipes - French Vanilla Ice Cream Recipe*

MyRecipes - Peach and Toasted Pecan Ice Cream

Southern Living - 20 Best Recipes for Home Made Ice Cream

Thursday would be a public holiday here in Malaysia.. Hopefully I won't be too lazy to try this out.. :)

Toodles dearies!

• 
  

Henry Bain's Burger Sauce

Looking for the ultimate burger sauce.. Stumbled upon this recipe at nibbledish and courier journal:

1) Nibbledish:

How to make Henry Bain's Burger

This recipe is all about the Henry Bain sauce.  Henry Bain was the head waiter at Louisville's elite Pendennis Club in the 1880's.  He developed this recipe, I have used the sauce for steaks, venison, duck, as well as burgers.

Ingredients:

1 grilled hamburger

1 toasted bun

Zuni Zuchinni pickles for garnish

for Henry Bain Sauce:

1/2 cup chili sauce

1/2 cup ketchup

1/2 cup A-1 steak sauce

1/2 cup worcestershire sauce

1 1/2 cup chutney-the original recipe used peach chutney, but any flavor will work.

2 Teaspoons salt

1/2 Teaspoon of freshly ground black pepper

Combine all the sauce ingredients in a sauce pan and bring to the boil.

Simmer over low heat for 5 minutes.

This keeps well in the refrigerator for several weeks.

Serve the sauce spooned over the burger with a side of Zuni Zuchinni Pickles.

2) Courier Journal

Henry Bain sauce is a sweet-sour-spicy beef sauce invented by a maitre d' at Louisville's all-male Pendennis Club in the early 20th century.

· 1 (17-ounce) jar Major Grey's chutney
· 1/2 of 9-ounce jar imported pickled walnuts (optional, see note)
· 1 (14-ounce) bottle ketchup
· 1 (11-ounce) bottle A-1 Steak Sauce
· 1 (10-ounce) bottle Worcestershire sauce
· 1 (12-ounce) bottle chili sauce
· Tabasco, to taste

Put the chutney and walnuts, if using, in a blender and chop fine or puree as you prefer (you'll need to stop and stir). Combine with other ingredients and season to taste with Tabasco.
Makes 4 pints.

Serve with hot or cold roast beef. Spread on beef sandwiches, serve with pot roast, etc. Also good served with cream cheese as a cracker spread.

Note: Pickled walnuts are recommended in the Henry Bain sauce recipe in``The Farmington Cookbook,'' but not in recipes written by former Louisville food writers Cissy Gregg and Marion Flexner.

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

Both claimed that it's a Henry Bain sauce recipe, tapi ada slight difference.. Would combine and give them a try lah.. 

:: Carrot Cake Recipe ::

I have 2 carrot cake recipes at home.. They sit in one Word document.. Each time I want to bake a carrot cake, I would go all confused as to which recipe is a good recipe.. They say never tweak a baking recipe.. But I always do.. Due to the above-mentioned confusion, I’d always mix the two recipes together, cutting down and adding up ingredients according to my heart’s desire.. So, I’d end up getting different result of carrot cake each time.. Oh, don’t worry, the cakes were edible every-time though.. :P

I figure, it’s time to look for the ONE carrot cake recipe that I should always stick to.. This particular carrot cake from allrecipe got great reviews.. I can’t wait to try em out..

Ingredients

• 4 eggs

• 1 1/4 cups vegetable oil

• 2 cups white sugar

• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

• 2 cups all-purpose flour

• 2 teaspoons baking soda

• 2 teaspoons baking powder

• 1/2 teaspoon salt

• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

• 3 cups grated carrots

• 1 cup chopped pecans

• 1/2 cup butter, softened

• 8 ounces cream cheese, softened

• 4 cups confectioners' sugar

• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

• 1 cup chopped pecans

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour a 9x13 inch pan.

2. In a large bowl, beat together eggs, oil, white sugar and 2 teaspoons vanilla. Mix in flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and cinnamon. Stir in carrots. Fold in pecans. Pour into prepared pan.

3. Bake in the preheated oven for 40 to 50 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Let cool in pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack and cool completely.

4. To Make Frosting: In a medium bowl, combine butter, cream cheese, confectioners' sugar and 1 teaspoon vanilla. Beat until the mixture is smooth and creamy. Stir in chopped pecans. Frost the cooled cake.

Here are some reviews:

CYNJAMS:

This is a great recipe. Some other reviewers had problems with the center falling-these tips may help. Cakes will sink or fall because of the following 1.Overbeating-too much air is incorporated 2.Underbaking- oven temp is too low or too short a baking time 3.Over or under measurement of ingredients 4.Using too small/large of baking pan 5. Make sure your oven temp is correct-preheat for at least 30 min. and check to make sure your oven is heating properly by using an oven thermometer for accuracy and finally, only open your oven door if you have to and then make sure 3/4 of the cooking time is up. Happy baking everyone!

Gneebeanie:

After reading through 4-5 pages of the reviews, I consolidated the most referred alterations to this recipe to: 1) using 1 cup brown sugar and 1 cup white sugar 2) adding an extra teaspoon of vanilla extract 3) adding 1 8oz. can of crushed pineapple (I squeezed out most of the juice before adding it, I didn't want any extra fluids in the cake) 4) Added 1/4 teaspoon of nutmeg 5) added 1 extra teaspoon of cinnamon 6) used 3/4 cup canola oil and 1/2 cup applesauce. The result came out incredibly delicious - the cake was very flavorful and moist. For the frosting, I only used 3.5 cups of powdered sugar, and it was more than sweet enough, with a nicely balanced cream cheese vs. sweet flavor. If I would change anything again, I would use less pecans - it's a bit too nutty for my personal tastes. Also, I followed another reviewer's suggestion of grating the carrots with the large grater side (the one you use for cheese) so that you don't end up with a bunch of carrot mush and juice that can't be used. Will definitely make again! This is probably the best carrot cake I've ever had.

Emily Trak:

I made some subs: 1.5 cups brown sugar (no white), half cup oil and 1 cup crushed pineapple (drained) instead of 1 1/4 cup oil, 2.5 tsp cinnamon and 1/4 tsp nutmeg, 3 tsp vanilla, omitted nuts and frosting. I baked in two 9 inch round cakepans for 40 minutes instead of a 9x13 pan. The result was perfectly moist cake with terrific flavor, and less guilt! Next time, I'll double the recipe so my cakes can be a bit taller, and I'll add crushed walnuts...but I can't imagine it being much better than this. Suggestion: if you're using a box grater, grate the carrots on the 2nd largest holes (same ones you use to grate cheese). I made the mistake of grating on the next smaller size holes last time, and used 5 cups of carrots (and 1/2 cup oil - no applesauce). The carrot shreds were too small and too many, and a lot of carrot juice was produced. All that extra liquid caused my "cake" to be more like a thin layer of rubbery pumpkin pie filling, even after cooking for over an hour. So make sure your carrot shreds are quite large, so you don't end up with all that unwanted carrot juice.

AZ_Melanie:

I made this cake for my son's first birthday party a few days ago and it was a hit!!! I too, made a few changes that really made this cake great. I used 3/4 cup oil plus 1/2 cup applesauce instead of the full amount of oil, I used 1 cup each white and brown sugar and also added 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg. As for the frosting, I reduced the powdered sugar to 2 1/4 cups. This recipe was delicious and I am sure would be with or without any of the changes mentioned above. In fact, I think I am going to go eat another leftover piece right now :)!! Thanks Tammy!

I'll make my own personal review once I've tried the recipe.. :)

Till next we meet.. Toodles! :)

Chocolicious

I used to be a chocoholic.. Now, not so much.. Or rather, more selective of the chocolates I eat.. I think.. :P

Sepupu saya yang cantik lagi baik hati dah nak kahwin 24 Disember ni.. One of the items in her goodie bag to give away are these chocolates.. These are handmade.. Well, not exactly from scratch.. Tapi, ada personal touch laa.. :) She wanted minimum 1,000 casings of these chocolates, so I've decided to help out a bit..

I managed to do about 370 casings.. 1 casing has 2 chocolates.. so, 370 x 2 = 680 pieces of chocolates in the span of 2 weeks (tolak 5 hari sebab supply dah habis).. Rasa kagum jugak dengan diri sendiri.. Hehe..

These on the other hand, were requested by my sister-in-law for her niece.. Love the polka dots ribbon..

Rupa-rupanya ikat ribbon lagi jenuh dari buat chocolate.. Haha.. Nanti kena belajar teknik ikat ribbon yg mudah dan cepat tapi tetap cantik.. Huhu..

Till we meet again..

Toodles!