Soap like Food -- #10 Iced Gem Biscuits !

Soap like Food! is my personal soapy project to celebrate Singapore's 50th birthday. Whilst brainstorming for ideas, one nostalgic food item that kept popping up in my head was Iced Gem Biscuits a.k.a Biskut Ais Gem (Malay transliteration). 

My dear grandma used to affectionately refer to them in Cantonese as "Belly Button Biscuits". The biscuit bottoms resemble cute lil belly buttons and each biscuit has a brightly coloured icing piped on top. I loved them when I was a kid and still do! I would sort these lil gems by the colour of their icing and munch them according to colour preference - white, yellow, green & pink. Sometimes I would eat the biscuit bottoms and save all the icing (the best!) for the last.  

I had a soapy good time making these lil gems !

Iced Gem Biscuit Soaps

Iced Gem Biscuit Soaps

Iced Gem Biscuit Soaps

Soap like Food -- #5 Mandarin Orange !

Yesterday was the first day of spring, also known as Li Chun, in the Chinese solar calendar. The Year of the Wood Goat has begun and Chinese New Year is just round the corner!

I have been soaping since 2009 and each year I would receive numerous requests to handmake mandarin orange soaps during Chinese New Year. I always turned down these orders as I was concerned that my mandarin orange soaps would not look realistic. 

When Meimei told me that her good friend Z had asked if I made mandarin orange soaps 2 days ago, I decided to challenge myself and just do it. Shopping for Mandarin oranges during this time of the year is super fun. Meimei and I sampled so many different types of mandarin orange before finally settling for the juicy sweet and tangy Pongkan.

Mandarin Orange Soap

Mandarin Orange Soap

Mandarin Orange Soaps

Ooohhh ... I love how my mandarin orange soaps turned out! Have a great Year of the Wood Goat everyone!

Soap like Food -- #4 Kueh Tutu !

Kueh Tutu, also known as "嘟嘟糕" in Mandarin, is a uniquely Singaporean delicacy made from rice flour and with fillings of either roasted ground peanuts or grated coconut. I recall queueing by the Kueh Tutu tricycle cart together with my Dad when I was little, tingling with delight each time the steamers went "TuTu" !. It was  a nightly ritual for both of us; hand in hand, a short walk across the street to satisfy my cravings for Kueh Tutu. 

Today, it is rather difficult to find authentic ones that taste as good as I remember them to be. Most pop-up stalls at our neighbourhood pasar malams (night markets) are often dry, bland and rubbery in texture.

If only I can cook like I soap! Kueh Tutu will definitely be one of the first local dishes that I will attempt to master. Till then, I'll just indulge in my soapy Kuehs!

Handmade Kueh Tutu Soap

Handmade Kueh Tutu Soap

Handmade Kueh Tutu Soap

Soap like Food -- #3 Macarons !

I have had a love affair with Macarons for several years now. Ok, I am biased. I only crave for the ones from ET Artisan Sweets. They are THE BEST! The first time I tasted one of their G-O-R-G-E-O-U-S macarons during my dear friend's wedding back in September 2011, I was so inspired and soaped out some awesome soapy macarons! You can read all about it in this blog post - Merry Macarons ! These Macaron Soaps became one of my best sellers over the last few years.

I went to 'Macaron Heaven' when I attended a lil princess's 1st month celebration last month and I received this!!

Yummy goodies from ET Artisan Sweets! 

Oh-Macaron-Goodiness! This is what I soaped up for this week's Soap like Food!

Handpainted Mandarin Orange Macaron Soaps

Handpainted Mandarin Orange Macaron Soaps

Handpainted Valentine Heart Macaron Soaps

Handpainted Valentine Heart Macaron Soaps

Handpainted Rose Macaron Soaps

Handpainted Rose Macaron Soaps

Fancy some Macarons without the calories? These limited edition Macaron Soaps will be available soon at www.holyrosehandmade.com ! 

Soap like Food -- #2 Kueh Belanda aka Loveletters !

The Lunar Chinese New Year is just round the corner! All the shopping malls are dressed up in CNY decorations and shelves are overflowing with CNY goodies. Last week's Soap like Food! featured one of my favourite CNY pastries, the Pineapple Tart. The hokkien word for Pineapple sounds like the word for prosperity and this tart is thus considered auspicious to eat during Chinese New Year! Read about Soap like Food! #1 Pineapple Tart ! 

The traditional wafer thin Nonya biscuit known as Kueh Belanda aka Loveletters is another 'must-have' during this festive period. The Peranakan Chinese make these kuehs using molds that are etched with animal motifs such as fish and roosters that are considered to be auspicious and decorative.

Making Kueh Belanda is not for the fainthearted! It is very hard and hot work especially when rolling the fragile coconut flavoured biscuits into thin "cigar" rolls. My Loveletter soaps were made in a rather hot and fiddly fashion too. Both my palms were red and quite swollen after that!

Handmade Loveletter Soaps

Pineapple Tart & Loveletter Soaps

Soap like Food -- #1 Pineapple Tart !

Singaporeans are most passionate about our food. I must admit that I get a lot of my inspiration from food. One of my resolutions for 2015 is to SOAP MORE. As Singapore is celebrating her 50th birthday this year (Golden Jubilee!), I decided to embark on my own soapy celebration project -- Soap like Food!

Soap like Food! will feature 52 soapalicious 'food-like' soaps, one for each week of the year. These soaps will resemble food that I love and are the result of my many hours of day-dreaming about soap. Ha!

One of my favourite bite-sized pastry is the Nonya Pineapple Tart, also known as Kueh Tair. These tarts are a must-have in most households during Chinese New Year in Singapore. Buttery and fragrant melt-in-the-mouth tarts with generous portions of slightly tangy pineapple jam...MMMMmmmmm

Baking pineapple tarts is a very laborious affair that requires lots of time and patience. Thankfully, soapy ones are easier to make ;)

Handmade Pineapple Tart Soaps

Handmade Pineapple Tart Soaps

Handmade Pineapple Tart Soap

Time to visit my favourite bakery for some authentic pineapple tarts! See ya next Thursday :)