And I said, "What about Breakfast At Tiffany's?"

Lavenders are such sexy flowers. Their seductive perfume scent... feminine lilac hue... and feathery petite petals... all seem to marry beautifully. They carry with them an aura of sensuality and placidity that somehow makes us feel magically at ease. Some like them freshly bundled into a flower girl's bouquet, some prefer them dried in a porcelain vase, and others love them bottled into essential oils...

...But I? I want to eat them.

I've been having this peculiar urge to make something lavender for quite a while. Lavender honey, lavender sugar, lavender tea... But I've decided to go with a recipe that I've bookmarked for almost a month now because... procrastination got the better of me. (Not proud about it.) 

So. Lavender Shortbread Cookies.

They are sexy, sensual, feminine and elegant - all in a bite.

Have them with a flirty Cosmo. Or maybe some tea and honey. You can even pair them with milk. But not milk in a mug. Milk in a martini glass. Just like how Holly Golightly had hers in Breakfast At Tiffany's.

Such elegance and poise. Sigh.

So, back to the cookies. I started with an equal part ratio of dried lavender blossoms and granulated sugar, and ground them together with a pestle and mortar until it became a fine perfumed powder.

In a separate bowl, I creamed two sticks of unsalted butter with a cup of sugar, added 2 1/2 cups of AP flour and a pinch of salt. To that, I mixed in the lavender sugar until everything came together to form a moist, slightly crumbly dough.

Wrapped it in cling film and gave it some down time in the fridge. Once it's firm enough to work with, I rolled it out and cut mine into 1 1/2 inch circles before pricking them, brushing them with beaten eggs, and dusting just a tad of demerara sugar on these circular mounds.

 Pop these beauties into the oven at 180degC for 14 minutes until the sides are just turning golden.

While waiting, brew yourself a petite pot of fancy tea. Mine was called Paris, Mon Amour (or Paris, My Love) from Fouchon. I bought it during my Halloween weekend trip to Hong Kong... And no prizes for guessing who I dressed up as...

But I'll give you the answer anyway. xoxo.

My Whirlwind Romance... With Food

I've been meaning to write about my pastry escapades since a couple of weeks now. The winter holidays have been just amazing, or as Alvin would say - and I quote, "YUM-mazing!"

Kudos to my Makansutra Singapore 2009 guide book (coupled with my innate curiosity to explore fine, fabulous grub), I have spent my tropical days back home charting my very own "Die, Die Must Try!" culinary extravaganza, titillating my taste buds with the potpourri of Uniquely Singapore local fare - from one of Joo Chiat's finest Cze Char stalls, to the award-winning Hill Street Fried Kway Teow tucked away in a nondescript hawker center at Bedok South, that of which Anthony Bourdain has blissfully sank his teeth into and declared, "How can something that looks so messy... taste so good?" And, despite my bursting belly and shrieking inner conscience that I have to double my jogging distance the day after, temptation got the better of me, so we settled for an after-dinner curbside D24 durian indulgence that I, till today, have to admit was worth every caloric morsel. The aromatically pungent fruit gleaming in its vibrant lemony custard skin was gorgeously sweet and moist... (Oh, please don't get me started...)

After my month-long love affair with K F Seetoh's recommended grub - which I have to confess may be bordering the line of gluttony - I would expect some sort of deep, pregnant guilt to sink right down to the pit of my stomach... but perhaps the term 'bottomless pit' fits in aptly right now.

Yeap. The guilt just goes right through.

So on the contrary, my culinary and pastry explorations have taken off to greater heights. I have been ranting and raving about using my Morrocan tagine (courtesy of the best girlfriends ever), so weekend dinner parties have given me ample avenues to experiment and display my inner craze for all things sweet and savory. And having been inspired by Julie & Julia, I did a modified take on Julia Child's celebrated Beef Bourguignon recipe with the help of my handy tagine. I know it's suppose to be a pastry blog but we need some splashes of salt to tickle our Umami taste buds, don't we?

Fabulous, just fabulous.

Nonetheless amidst the recent whirlwind cooking adventures, pastry was - and is - and will always be my kind of soul food. Apologies for the lack of photographic displays, but I've managed to dabble in multiple dessert creations - from Gordon Ramsay's most YUM-mazing Chocolate Fondant (translation: molten chocolate lava cake), to Piña Colada panna cottas, Spritz cookies and blueberry jam. The latest creations that I just embarked on this afternoon were two versions of Tiramisu - the classic Italian, and a Japanese twist using matcha and Azuki beans. I promise more updates on the creamy duo tomorrow after they enjoy a night of chilling (both literally an figuratively).

So in the meantime, goodnight, sweet dreams and enjoy a couple of Nigella's Totally (decadent) Chocolate Chocolate-Chip Cookies and a rich, frothy glass of cold milk...

XOXO darling!

Seventh Heaven

The Christmas season is such a fabulous time to go cookie-cutter hunting. Every mall and store would be selling rows and rows of such wonderful hollow metallic assortments, all bent and twisted to form anything you can dream of... and more.

So with a sparkling sack of cookie cutters stashed away in my Christmas cupboard, I've embarked on a sugar cookie frenzy and have begun rolling out buttery mounds of biscuit dough, stamping them into a mélange of wintertime patterns, then embellished with shimmery brown specks of Demerara sugar and magical golden dust.

"...and you can almost hear the choirs of angels singing..."

There's something ethereal and enchanting about that sentence that still captivates me even though I have to admit that it has already been four days since Christmas. But I guess there's always the New Year to excuse myself for my whimsical musings...

Mmm... Talk about being in seventh heaven.