The Sugar Bar

Why a picture of dry-looking toast? And toast of all things. And toast that I didn’t even prepare myself. Before you lay into me, I assure you I’m not going whack. Neither is this blog going bust, nor have I lost my skills to cook or bake.

It’s just I thought I’d mention that one shouldn’t judge a book by its cover (or a toast sandwich by its dry exterior). This toast isn’t dry. In fact, it is sublime, especially when the portions of butter are totally out of this world. I mean it ain’t about spreading the butter for this one, but slabbing it like a deejay on crack.

Kaya toast is such a simple delight, very often taken for granted and overlooked, because it’s a breakfast easily prepared at home. I remember my dad used to pack this in my take-to-school lunchbox untoasted so it stayed fresh and soft until lunchbreak (sometimes he got a little experimental and mixed it with peanut butter. woah, funky.). It isn’t glamorous, it isn’t pretty and it surely isn’t expensive. It’s homey and old world. Some might shoot darts at me for choosing to reminisce the old days and breathe in some local flavours at a coffee/breakfast chain of all places, known as Ya Kun Kaya Toast. But I ain’t a fussy hussy and I actually think this place is pretty good.

But what on earth is a kaya toast anyway? It’s thinly sliced soft brown bread toasted til airy and crispy, spread with nyona kaya jam or coconut jam then pressed together as a sandwich with slabs of salted butter between the bits. Bite into it, it starts to crumble like good pastry; it’s creamy where the thick custardy jam is, crispy at the edges but smooth and buttery with a good depth of flavour from the salt. Me describing it does it no justice. But that feeling of sitting on a stool at a coffee stall with a coffee/tea and a plate of fresh kaya toast? A quintessential Singaporean thing to do in the morn’. No doubt about it, I slowly realize how I’ve missed this. It’s a truly unique breakfast experience.

And yea, the coffee (although not the best and not exactly wonderful or powerful enough) is fairly decent. I just love that local coffees, when you ask for it iced, comes with a bit of froth at the top. Froth….purrrrr~~~

I find it hard nowadays to keep up with foodblogs unlike when I first started browsing the net for my usual favs 5 years ago. There’s a whole plethora of blogs, be it food, fashion, beauty, music, art, etc. out there. So much to read, to catch up and be distracted with. I’m afraid to admit that it’s quite an effort. And old-school folks like me do not like using funky gadgets like Google reader and all that. I’m still using bookmarks or little scribbles in my diary to remember good blogs, posts, etc. I think I suck. I’m a bad person. But I promise you I do make an effort to stay up-to-date with fellow foodblogger’s sugary dalliances. And The Daily Spud’s Hazelnut Brownies very recently got my full attention (and drool-covered laptop….kidding).

I don’t recall when was the last time I made brownies. Yes I know I’m being outrageous yet again but being without an oven and having to deal with academia, somehow brownies just kind of got forgotten. And with things like brownies, I’ve never followed a recipe loyally and there have been occasions where I’ve let family and friends talk me into letting them use a brownie mix! Nevertheless, they’ve made a comeback now. I think this time, the comeback was a real event and a very welcome guest in our house, welcome to stay forever. I’ve sealed such a proper relationship with these brownies because I doubt I’ll ever go galavanting down other brownie paths and I’m sure everyone will be very happy about it.

This recipe’s gold! Brownies sit very well amongst my sisters and my dear old paps. We like a nice slab of warm (sometimes fudgy) brownie and a scoop of vanilla ice cream on top of it to round up a meal. But my mother dislikes anything chocolatey, rich and slightly difficult to swallow. Brownies, a bit of the forbidden dessert, aren’t her favourite thing. Actually, let me correct that. My mother hardly likes anything I bake and she’s the toughest out of the lot to please. You don’t have to ask, she’s the trickiest critic I’ve come across. Not to mention that using her kitchen (I’ve claimed the oven as MINE and I don’t care what anyone else says. It’s MINE MINE MINE!) is kind of like sleeping with the last dragon.

I won’t go into the soppy boring details of how I started baking at a young age, religiously experimenting, practising and perfecting my still shitty skills every weekend and having to be yelled at to clean up, stop baking, stop wasting good ingredients, etc. I mean, it was hell. But all that has allowed me to use the kitchen very freely with good trust from the mama today. And yesterday. {pause} FINALLY. an event to behold…(that includes these bloody brownies), ma mère was hanging around til midnight for me to cut these warm babies up. Please note, she picked up even the crumbs to nibble on. And she said that these brownies were good. They would give the other bakers she knew at church a run for their money.

It may seem like nothing much but that means a lot. Mama’s stamp of approval. I think I’m glowing. I have to agree, however, that it had nothing to do with me but everything to do with this recipe. A very rich, thick, warm and aromatic (bet it’s that coffee!) brownie with toasted hazelnuts. Anyone who can eat it and go ‘ew’ I would send straight to the quacks to have their brains checked. Ridiculously good. Will be making this again and again.

Mum’s requested for the next batch to be made with macadamias. I’m all for that, and more (think pistachios and other tweaking).

Ending this week on a high. Hope it’s the same for you guys too! Happy weekend y’all.

**Photos in this post today are from both my usual Canon Powershot G10 and a special guest Canon DSLR. Yea I borrowed my little sister’s and fiddled around with it!

Here’s the recipe from The Daily Spud. I followed it exactly except that I doubled the recipe to get 2 batches and used instant coffee granules instead of ground coffee.

Hazelnut Coffee-Spiked Brownies

Ingredients
100g whole hazelnuts
1 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
175g unsalted butter, melted and cooled
275g soft brown sugar
1 1/2 tsp finely ground coffee
3 large eggs
75g cocoa powder
75g plain flour
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt

Preheat the oven to 160d Celsius. Grease and flour your baking pan. You can line it with baking parchment as well.

Toast hazelnuts in the oven for 10mins or in a greaseproof large frying pan with no oil for a few minutes over a medium fire. Allow to cool then finely grind about half the hazelnuts. Chop the remaining nuts roughly.

Stir vanilla into melted butter. Add the sugar and ground coffee to a large mixing bowl and pour in the melted butter. Mix well and ensure that no lumps remain in the sugar.

Beat in eggs one at a time.

Then sieve together the cocoa, flour, baking powder and salt. Fold this into the sugar mixture. You’ll get a thick, dark batter.

Stir in ground and chopped hazelnuts. Now scrape the batter into prepared tins and bake until just set in the middle. Daily Spud estimates her baking time to be about 30mins. Because I baked 2 tins at the same time at 160d Celsius, mine needed a little bit more time but they came out perfect after 35mins.

Leave to cool in the tins for a few minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack to finish cooling. Be careful when turning out the brownies as they can be fairly fragile towards the middle.

Yesterday was my last day with the kid sister C so we made sure to get up early for a good breakfast out. I’d raved about Lantana cafe on Charlotte Place in Fitzrovia quite a bit whilst C was here so it was absolutely necessary to get our sleepyheads over to the café. And get this, it is open for breakfast at 8am! My little C found the menu a little strange at first and a bit too much for an early chow but mind you, that girl is zombie dead and expressionless that early in the morning. She took a while to decide on sourdough toast, roast tomatoes, etc. and pretty much mumbled her order to our waitress Suzie. Somehow the residual sleepiness that she had yet to shake off drowned out her voice. Now we know mumbling gets you nowhere so C unfortunately ended up with only sourdough toast, butter and jam. But she liked it good enough (you can’t fault good bread). Her iced latte was a milky heaven and by the end of the meal, she left with a satisfied belly. It did take a while for it all to register of course. Our breakfast conversation wasn’t that brilliant or lively. In fact, some might consider it non-conversation. The excited chatter only kicked in post-caffeine for me and for C, when she pulled out her polaroid. But we’re sisters. Long spells of silence between us two are allowed. We’re that comfortable with each other I suppose.

On the other side of the table, after a lot of teasing and laughing, my own order arrived - brioche toast with poached pears, ricotta and blackberries. I died and went to heaven. I wasn’t even upset that they’d taken the french toast with pistachio mascarpone off the menu. This baby was composed of my favourite fruits and it felt like it was all meant to be. To revive myself and note, I did have a cappucino to start, I ordered a macchiato to get my heart pumping again. I heart this place. And I heart the coffees they serve. It was a fine way to get our last day started and a nice little café with a friendly setting for C and I managed to take more holiday polaroid shots.

She’s home now all safe and sound with the rest of the family. And I am missing her lots. The house is too quiet, too empty and suddenly just a little less cluttered than when she was here with all luggage. It’s a bittersweet emotion inside me knowing that my little C has grown up just a bit more. This must be what my elder sis A felt when I left home for England years ago. Nevertheless, it’s nice to know the bonds between us three sisters have strengthened and matured. I’ve always wanted a brother. And yea, sure if you’d throw that into the mix I’d happily accept it. But there’s something about sisters and the joys, secrets and annoyances between us that is really precious.

I can’t wait to be reunited with both my sisters when I do finally return home. Breakfast with the whole family, it’s a sweet affair to wake up to. And oh, to be reunited with my beloved oven once again…