Photo’s courtesy of guest writer

Halloween is over, Thanksgiving is about 3 weeks away, next it is my favorite month of the year, December… Christmas!!!! Holiday season at the end of the year is always full of fun events, mmmm… I smelled roasted turkey, I smelled Cinnamon, I heard Christmas Carols, I felt colder (with the North bound wind flowing in), I am going to decorate my home with Christmas again. Yippee!!!!

I haven’t had a finished craft tutorial to show you yet but I promised the next one will be from me. It is surely related to Christmas and it is a good one!!! Today, we have Brandon to slot in as a guest writer at Craft Passion while I sneak away to prepare the next sewing tutorial. Brandon Jackson is here to share a dog cookies recipe with us plus some tips to craft for your lovely dog. Dogs, as members of the family deserved the special attention during this holy season too.

[A little about Brandon Jackson: Brandon holds a degree in business communication and works in the insurance industry. He lives in the Rocky Mountain area with his wife, Dawn, and their three children.]

Photo’s courtesy of guest writer

For all the times they’ve waited patiently, tails wagging, wet-nosed, bright eyes shining with love for you to come home and give them love, this year your puppy deserves a Christmas worth barking about. A good dog is a member of the family, and there’s no better excuse than Christmas to pamper and spoil them for all the love and laughter they bring into the home.

A Fetching Feast

Your darling dog may not be able to join the family at the dinner table, but that doesn’t mean they don’t deserve a special seasonal snack of their own, and what’s better than cookies? Darlene Michaud shares her special canine cookie treats recipes below.

• 2 cup cornmeal
• 6 t tablespoons vegetable oil
• 2/3 cup water or broth (chicken or beef)
• 2 cups of whole wheat flour

What you’ll need to make these tasty treats: rolling pin, cookie cutters, and cookie sheet. Simple, right?

Mix the cornmeal and whole wheat flour then add oil and water (or broth). You can also add some food coloring if you want red or green bones (you can spilt the dough and make both colors). Mix the mush with your hands. If it’s too wet, add some more flour. If it’s too dry, add a bit more water (or broth). Don’t be overly concerned about getting it just right. As long as you can roll it out, you’re good! Fido won’t care if it’s perfect or not.

Roll the dough out onto a floured board until it’s about 1/4 inch thick. Then cut shapes with cookie cutters or just cut free hand. Place the cookies on a cookie sheet lined with wax paper and bake at 350 degrees for about 30 to 35 minutes (over cooked is better than undercooked). Remove from the oven and let cool. Store in plastic bags and give to dogs for Christmas!

Stalking Woofers

In the era of DIY everything, it’s more fun than ever to create handmade decorations and artisan crafts. This holiday season your pooch can have just as much fun as everyone else when it’s time to unwrap presents. Start with a personalized stocking, which can be selected from custom sites like PersonalCreations.com, or purchased from HobbyLobby.com or other local craft stores. For added charm, buy some felt and puff paint and decorate with paw prints and your beloved pet’s name.

Filling your puppy stocking is even more fun than decorating it! Here are some simple ways to add some pizazz to this year’s top dog gift list:

1. Holiday T-shirt: Make Christmas card photos to create an iron on appliques, press it on a dog onesie, and make the most adorable holiday outfit any dog could hope for.

2. Fluffy toys: find organic squeaky toys for tug-o-war and to snuggle with at night. Tying holiday ribbons around them also gives your furry pal an added extra to play with.

3. New bed: a personalized DIY bed would make your dog the talk of the town. Places like Costco sell plain dog beds that are just begging for some bells and whistles. Using puff paint and felt to personalize your pooch’s bed to match his stocking, add some jingle bells.

When your furry best friend comes bounding into the living room this Christmas, you’re sure to win some lasting memories.

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Steamed Sponge Cake in Cranberries and Lemon Zest Flavor

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Usually, when I craved for cake I will either go to buy one from bakery shop or bake one at my mom’s house. But, during the weekend, I was hit by the mood of steaming cake at home. If you know me well or have read through some of my stories here, you will know that I don’t have an oven for food. I do have an oven for craft but not for food… lol, but hubby promised me to get me a fully equipped kitchen when we move to a new home. Hope it is a soon to happen dreams come true…..

Back to the cake…. I have got this recipe from a local baker’s recipe book: Magic Steamed Cake, by Alex Goh, ISBN #: 978-967-5413-35-5, the original name for this recipe is Lemon Angel Cake. It is a meringue based sponge cake and I find it quite healthy as it has used only little oil in it. Since I have all the ingredients in hand, I gave it a try. Due to the recipe is made by steaming, I already predicted that the cake won’t come out as fluffy as a baked cake. Well, I am glad that my assumption is not quite right, it is still fluffy but a little denser due to moisture it has in it. The cake has to be served fresh, the longer you keep, the denser it will be.

Since it has to be served fresh, a mini cake will be the right portion for a small family. Smaller cake is easier to steam too. I modified the recipe a little, then, halve the portion.

{Get full details on next page.}

1. Valentines Day Cookies with Buttercream Frosting at Tidymom.
2. Simply Dotty Valentines Cookies at Sweet Sugar Belle.
3. Red Velvet Crinkle Cookies at Two Peas And Their Pod.
4. Valentines Jello Hearts at The Hungry Housewife.
5. Oreo Cookie Love Bug at Snap.
6. Red Velvet Valentine’s Macarons at Delectable Deliciousness.
7. Heart Spinkle Valentine Macarons at Bubble And Sweet.
8. Marbled Red Velvet Cheesecake Brownies at The Novice Chef.
9. Double-decker, Stripey, Valentine Cookies at Bake At 350.
10. Sweet Heart Shortbread at Diamonds For Dessert.
11. Sweets for my sweetie pie at Bits Of Taste.
12. Valentines Twinkies on a Stick at Confessions Of a Cookbook Queen.
13. Glass Topper Valentines Cookies at Cookies And Cups.
14. Valentine Cake Pop at National Geographic.
15. How to Make Valentine’s Day Marshmallow Pops at Mommy Gaga.
16. Valentine Sugar Cubes at Craft Passion.
17. Egg In A Basket at Food 4 Tots.
18. How to make a heart shaped egg at Anna The Red.
19. Heart Shaped Cinnamon Bun at Craft And Creativity.
20. Valentine Roasted Potatoes at Haniela’s.

Happy Valentine’s Day!

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Hot Mocha Truffles Recipes

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I have got the idea of making these Hot Cafe Mocha Truffles after stumbled upon this recipe [come with step by step photo as well]. And, if you want to make some for kids, you can make the Hot Chocolate Truffles version by using the original recipe.

I find it rather convenient to make different flavors of hot cafe mocha with these truffles. Make some with your favorite choice of flavors. Pick your truffle of the day, drop it into a glass of hot milk and stir, you will have your hot cafe mocha in no time.

Sipping my glass of hot mocha in hazelnut flavor while writing this recipe, yum yum!!!

{Get full details on next page.}

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Recipe: Sweet Potato Soup

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Sweet Potato soup (蕃薯糖水) in ginger syrup is a typical Asian sweet dessert soup. It is very easy and quick to prepare and cook with literally no failure at all. The dessert soup is sweet along with the fragrant of sweet potato and ginger, and just like ginger tea, it is a little spicy.

With the high soluble fiber content of the sweet potato, it helps to ease some minor indigestion especially after the heavy eating during the festive season. Not to mention the wholesome goodness of nutrients in the sweet potato. Whilst, another ingredient – ginger, is a traditional remedy to cure bloating caused by flatulence. If you are in colder weather, ginger can help to warm your body too.
[Read more about the nutrient about Sweet Potato, here.]
[Read more on the goodness of ginger, here.]

In olden days, there were only Orange or plain white sweet potatoes in the market. The color of the syrup soup used to be clear if using white sugar or white rock sugar. Now, with the new color of purple added in the market, we are able to cook a tri-color sweet potato dessert soup, and the syrup soup color turns out to be purple or darker brown instead. Colorful, isn’t it?

{Get full details on next page.}

Perfect Jack O’ Lanterns And A tips About Orange at Sweet Sugar Belle

I adore cute edible crafts, just like beautiful handmade crafts, nicely decorated treats and food make me really happy and pleased.

Lately, I have been a frequent visitor to Sweet Sugar Belle’s blog after I fall in love to her beautiful flip-flop cookies guest posted at Tidymom. I admire her skill in cookies decoration with royal icing. Look at the Jack ‘O Lantern cookies she made, I am sure you will agree with me.

As you know that I started to cook and bake not long ago, along, set-up a recipes section in Craft Passion. I would like to take this opportunity to share some Halloween treats recipes I adored and wanted to try. I should be able to handle those easy and quick edible crafts like dip pops, but…. cookies and cakes in royal icing and fondant decoration which need some practices and skills… I need time to master the skill, should not be this year, may be next year!!! Wish me luck, pleaseeeee…. and next year you should be able to see some from my creations.

Look at all these beautiful Halloween party treats, how can I not share their recipes and the methods to make them here with you….. Wish you a Happy Halloween!!! Yum…yum….Boo… boo..

Monster Cake at Makoodle.

Ghost Meringue Cupcakes With Oreo Dirt at Jenny Steffens Hobick.

Halloween Pumpkin Pancakes With Black Cinnamon Syrup at Tidymom.

Black Widow Chocolate Rum Cupcakes at 6 Bittersweets.

Oreo Mummies Cookies Pop at How Does She.

Meringue Ghosts at Joy Of Baking.

Halloween Lunch In Muffin Tin at Another Lunch.

Frankenstein Rice Krispies Treat at Snack Picks.

Witch Hat Appetizers at Hungry Happenings.

Chocolate Spider Cupcakes at Kaboose Recipes.

Gingerbread Skeleton at Family Fun Recipes.

Tombstone Cookies with Dark Chocolate Graveyard Pots de Crème at My Recipes.

Witch Wands at Our Best Bites.

Rice Krispie Bar Ghosts at The Idea Room.

Skeleton Cupcakes at Woman’s Day.

Every year, Chinese celebrates Mid-Autumn Festival (中秋節) on the 15th day of the 8th Chinese lunar month. This year it falls on 12 September 2011, which is tomorrow. To know more about Mid Autumn Festival, its story and how Chinese celebrates it in different countries, click this wikipedia link.

There are various type of mooncake available, the 2 major types are the traditional mooncake (below) and the snow skin mooncake (above). Many years ago, basically all mooncakes came from homemade. I used to help my mom in making mooncakes to sell to relatives and friends during my teenage years. That was when my mom made some extra income for the household in a year. Due to age, long hour of standing and highly exhaustion from knocking the heavy wooden mold to get the mooncake out, my mom can no longer make them for selling. Occasionally, when ever she feels like baking some, she makes some for us. Hope that next year I will get a chance to bake with her and share her recipe here.

Now, there are so many brands and types of mooncakes available in the market, everyone can afford to buy and gifted to friends and family. Below is the store-bought machine-made mass-production single egg yoke white lotus seed flavor.

Traditional Baked Mooncake

To free the hassle to needing a knife to cut the 4″ mooncake into 8 pieces for serving, sometime mooncakes come in mini size, just enough to serve a person.

Mini Mooncake

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Sweet Heart Sugar Cubes

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I got the idea of making these sugar cubes after seeing this post. I have put it under my to-do list but later forgot about it as my list gets longer. This pity little fellow fell to the bottom as I added new items on top of it, oh poor boy… on the other hand it is lucky because at least I got it surfaced from the down bottom and not being slashed off from the list lol… Well, this is life and I always believe that I will come up again when I get to the rock bottom, as long as I hold my breath long enough and never give up

These sugar cubes can be molded from cookie cutter or candy mold. Get the steps and method after this:

Sweet Heart Sugar Cubes

Ingredients:
1. Fine granulated white sugar – 1/4 cup
2. Water (boiled and cooled) – 1/2 teaspoons
3. Food color – 1 or 2 drops (depend how deep you want the color to be)

Utensils & Tools:
1. Small bowl
2. Tea spoon
3. Cookie cutter (mini heart) or candy mold or chocolate mold
4. Cardboard
5. Pencil
6. Scissors (if using cookie cutter)
7. Tray

Prepare Wet & Colored Sugar

Get ready all the ingredients to make sweet heart sugar cubes.
I used Americolor soft gel paste but any food color will do. If you need deeper color, add more food color but you need to reduce the water amount.

Add 1/8 tea spoon of water into the sugar at a time and mix well every time you add.

Mix well and evenly. The wetness is a little dryer than the wet sand when you build a sand castle.
If the sugar is too wet, it is hard to hold up it’s shape after molding.
If the sugar is too dry, it will not get harden after it is dried.
Add 1 or 2 drops of food color into the sugar mixture and mix well.
If you are not sure how deep the color you will get from your food color, add 1/2 of the amount of the water to wet the sugar, then 1 drop of food color, mix well. Add more color or water as per your color reference.
You can mix food colors to get the color you want in another small container before adding it into the sugar.
The texture of the colored wet sugar. When you press the wet sugar, it formed into shapes easily.

Mold With Cookie Cutter

Trace the heart shape of cookie cutter onto a cardboard.

Cut the heart shape out from cardboard. Cut it a little smaller so that it can go through the cookie cutter.

Scoop some wet sugar into the cutter, press with finger until they get firmed in the cutter.
You can fill the sugar to any height as you like and not necessary to the full height of the cutter.
Place the heart shaped cardboard on the top of the cutter. Press the sugar until it is firm and level especially if it is not filled to full height.

Slowly lift the cutter up and push the sugar down. Use tea spoon handle to push the cardboard if the cutter is too small for your finger to get in. I need to use tea spoon handle because the cutter is just too tiny as you can see from the picture.
It might take you a few attempts to get the sugar comes out nice and even by not over pressing it while lifting the cutter. Just put back any failed sugar into the bowl and mix again to reuse.
Repeat.

I did a few colors from the primary color, red, blue, yellow. The green was from blue and yellow mix.

Mold with Chocolate or Candy Mold

Press the wet sugar into the clean and dry candy or chocolate mold.
Level the top flat.
Turn the mold and lightly knock the mold against the tray to pop out the alphabet sugar cubes.
Wet molded sugar cubes in alphabets are formed. Gently transfer or arrange them on a tray for air drying.
Place the sugar cubes on a tray to air-dry completely. Or, you may use a 200F oven to dry it for 5-10 minutes.
I left mine overnight and a morning before storing them away into an air-tight container.
Keep them in a cool dry place and consume as soon as possible.

Be the sugar cubes for valentines or special occasion, it sure melts the heart of your loved one.

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Recipe: Azuki Bean Popsicle

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Get the recipe and method to make this creamy red azuki bean popsicle after this jump.

A little background of this traditional red azuki bean popsicle…. The taste of this red azuki bean popsicle is similar to “AisKrim Potong” (Cut-Out Ice Cream in Malays), a traditional homemade dessert treat that are hardly found nowadays. Those modern mass production and commercially available in the grocery stores are not counted, they are not homemade and don’t taste exactly like homemade with natural ingredients. In olden days, AisKrim Potong is sold by an ice-cream man (normally the husband of the homemade ice-cream maker) with an distinguishable umbrella and ringing bell on his motorcycle or bicycle. He usually comes around the same time everyday, stops his bicycle at the same spot and ringing his bell to call his little ice-cream fans who would rush out from their home with some coins on their hands. He serves his little fans by cutting a small paper carton of hard ice cream into rectangular shape, either insert it in between 2 rectangular wafers, or, insert a wooden stick to the ice cream, peel away the remaining carton paper and give it to his fan with an exchange of 10-20 cents (some 30-40 years ago). There are several flavors in AisKrim Potong, Red bean (azuki bean) is the most popular flavors among them, other flavor like durian, corn, jackfruit and other tropical fruits are as tasty too.

Recipe: Red Azuki Bean Popsicle

Serves: 6 – 8 popsicles
Prepare time: 15 minutes with overnight freezing, 1-2 hours to cook your own azuki bean paste.
INGREDIENTS:
Sweetened Chunky Azuki Bean Paste – to make around 250 gram / 8.8 oz.
Azuki Bean / Red Bean – 150 gram / 7 oz
Water
Sugar -80 gram / 3 oz
Coconut Milk Mixture
Coconut Milk – 180ml / 3/4 cup
Evaporated Milk – 180ml / 3/4 cup
Syrup to taste
Salt – 1/2 teaspoon

Utensils & Tools:
Popsicle Mold
Blender
Saucepan or small pot
Measuring Cup
Kitchen Weighing Scale

METHOD:

• Wash azuki beans with water and boil them in a saucepan or small pot full of water. Once boil, drain them in a colander.
• Put the beans back to the saucepan or small pot, boil them again with water just enough to cover them. Simmer until the beans are soft and absorbed all the water (pour away excessive water if you have too much). It may take around 30-60 minutes. Keep an eye on them when simmering so that they won’t get burn at the bottom. Add water when necessary. Pre-soak azuki beans (about 3-5 hours) may take lesser time to cook.
• Stir in sugar and cook with low heat until the sugar has dissolved. Set aside to let it cool.
• Mix coconut milk and evaporated milk in the blender.
• Add salt into the mixture.
• When the azuki bean paste has cooled down to room temperature or cool enough to touch, measure 250 grams to add into the blender.
• Blend the mixture to mix well and add syrup to your prefer sweetness.
• Pour the azuki mixture into the popsicle molds and place the sticks into the molds.
• Place the molds into the freezer for overnight.
• Served chilled.

Notes:

• You can use canned chunky azuki bean paste or red kidney bean paste too but it will taste a little different.
• To shorten your preparation time, you can always precook the azuki bean and refrigerated it until ready to use. What I usually do is I used left-over azuki beans from my azuki bean soup tong sui.
• If you prefer to have chunky azuki beans in the popsicle, don’t blend the mixture with blender. Use fork to mash it a little so that it won’t get harden as a bean when frozen.
• The taste of sweetness decreases in lower temperature, so add a little more syrup in the mixture to make it a little sweeter than you want.

In olden days, we don’t have plastic popsicle molds, instead, we filled popsicles mixture into long narrow plastic bags. Then, we just tie a knot to the popsicle bag so that the mixture won’t flow out when place horizontally in the freezer. When the popsicles are all frozen up, we just cut away the knot, slide the popsicle out a little…. lick it, suck it or chew it, which ever way we like and don’t have to bother how other people look at us. We can even cut the popsicle into half if one feels that a whole stick is a little too much for them. I find that the popsicle bag is very handy and has a good design to suit the hot weather, it holds the liquid when the pop melts and after you have finished all the solid you go for the liquid

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Banoffee Pie Recipe

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Surprise, something new is on Craft Passion!!!! This time, it is not a craft pattern neither nor tutorial… it is a real dessert that I made on the Father’s Day. This is the first ever recipe in Craft Passion and the first ever banoffee pie I’ve attempted. If you like to see more recipe in Craft Passion, please give me shout yay!!! Get the non-bake banoffee pie after this jump.

Banoffee pie is the first authentic English dessert I have ever tasted, I love it!!! I confessed that I have a serious sweet tooth, I gawk to the dessert aisle before deciding if I am going to dine in for the buffet cuisine. Unfortunately, since the last bite 17 years ago, when I was studying in England for my Master Degree in University of Warwick, I haven’t got a chance to eat banoffee pie anymore… I really miss it!!! I can’t find any place in my country that sells authentic banoffee pie, not even in the popular English tea house, so I have to make one myself.

After research through the net to recall the way my hall-mate made it, I was confident to try my luck for the first time. Hey, it is so easy and simple, I have made a success in my first attempt, not bad!!! And, this banoffee pie is for my husband’s father’s day celebration, he doesn’t like sweet thing… BUT, he likes this banoffee pie I made which I have adjusted the sweetness!!!

Make a pot of Earl Grey Tea and have a piece of banoffee pie on a lazy afternoon….. a perfect English tea!!!!

Recipe: Banoffee Pie (Banana Toffee Pie)

Serves: 8
Prepare time: 30 minutes to 1 hour for the pie, 2-3 hours for the toffee.
INGREDIENTS:
Pie Base
Digestive biscuit (use McVities if possible) – 300 gram / 10.5 oz
Butter (melt)- 200 gram / 7 oz
Fillings & Toppings
Banana ~ 3-4 medium size
Sweetened Condense Milk – 1 can (~500g, can make 2 portion)
Whip Cream
Dark Chocolate
Cinnamon Powder / Coco Powder
Utensils & Tools:
9.5″ Tart Pan with removable bottom
Silicon Scraper
Big Pot
Rolling Pin
Zipper bag (Large)
Bowls
Kitchen Weighing Scale

METHOD:

• Place the unopened condense milk in a big pot, fill with water to cover the whole can. Boil for 2 -3 hours. Make sure the condense milk is fully immersed into the water all the time. Wait till it is cool before opening the can. While waiting for boiling and cool down, prepare the biscuit crumb pie base.
• Put digestive biscuits into a large zipper bag, release extra air & close the zip. Crush the biscuits with the rolling pin till fine.[1]
• Pour crushed biscuits and melted butter into a big bowl, mix well with a fork.[2]
• Spread the mixture on the tart pan, press on the base and side of the pan. Put into fridge to chill while waiting for the toffee to ready.
• Open the condense milk when it is ready and cool to touch. The toffee is thick and in brown color.[3]
• Slice the bananas.
• Spread the toffee and bananas on the biscuits crumb pie base.[4]
• Put back into the fridge until it is ready to be served. Spread the whip cream on top, sprinkle some chocolate gratings, dust over some cinnamon powder or coco powder. Served chilled.

Serving Suggestion:
Eat the filling with the biscuits crumb base together. The filling is sweet and the biscuit base is a little salty, feel the tranquility when they melt and mix in your mouth.

Notes:

• You can prepare the toffee 1 day before hand to shorten the preparation time, so that you don’t have to wait for it to boil and cool down while making the pie.
• Since my husband doesn’t like sweet dessert, I adjusted the recipe to reduce the toffee and increase the biscuit crumbs. If you like it sweet, add more toffee to your banoffee pie.