After crossing out a few and adding new recipes, I decided to bake these: 1. Famous Amos Choc Chip Cookies 18th Dec 08 For choc chip cookie, I added white choc chip and went w/o any nuts as I didn't have any. Hmmm... I realised that the cookie dough that were baked on grease proof paper didn't spread as much as those on wax paper. They looked more chubby! As proven here; cookie baked on wax paper on the left vs grease proof paper right. If you put alittle dough on the wax paper, the cookies will turned out flat, thin and crisp. This recipe helped me yield >70 altogether! 19th Dec 08 I was preparing for work and saw him laying on my bed. I had to snap this pic! 20th Dec 08 Pig and I were not meeting this day. I had the whole day of baking to myself, while he's travelling with his friends off S'pore. Sometimes, I do like these kinda days, doing stuff I like by myself on an entire free day. It's Lime Cookie's turn. I was greedy, very greedy in fact to combine 3 X ingredients to bake for a larger batch. Unlike my previous lime cookie, these were more crispy and hard. Still, not too bad as I could instantly taste the lime because I added quite a bit of lime juice! The shortbread dough was as usual soft, thus I added more flour for easy kneading, rolling and following by cutting out the shapes. Wooo... the spritz cookie looked pretty bouncy! I know... the cookie cutters aren't really for the X'mas season. Well, what the heck! By late afternoon, I started on slice-and-bake cookies by Smitten Kitchen. I did a variation of cocoa powder with raisins. I had to force the chilled dough into the heart-shape cutter instead of slicing it. These turned out pretty soft and slight chewy due to the raisins. And finally, mexican wedding cakes. They weren't easy to make as they were pretty dry. While the mexican wedding cakes were baking, I prepared icing for the cute spritz cookies. The icing had seemed to liven up them. 21st Dec 08 Individual cookies were selected and packed into the plastic bags. I got a total of 90 bags! Some contained 4 cookies; Mexican, Lime, Slice-and Bake and Choc Chip. Some w/o Mexican. Some with Spritz, Mexican and Lime... And some were Choc Chip instead of Mexican. For Tangy Lime Cookie's and Famous Amos Choc Chip Cookie's recipe, just click on the links. Russian Teacakes or Mexican Wedding Cakes (http://www.mykitchensnippets.com/search/label/Cookies) 1 cup (2 stick) of butter - room temperature For Tossing :1 1/2 cups of powdered sugar 1. Beat butter and sugar in a large bowl until light and creamy. Stir in vanilla. 2. Add in toasted nuts and flour until well combined. 3. Roll dough into a small balls and arrange the cookies into a baking tray about 1/2" apart. 4. Bake cookies in a pre-heated 325 F until golden brown on the bottom and just lightly brown on top. It might take about 20 min (depend on your oven). 5. Cool cookies completely and then roll it in powdered sugar. Note : If the dough is too soft, chill it in the fridge for an hour before forming it into balls. You can form the cookies into crescent shape. SPRITZ (http://howtoeatacupcake.net/) Makes: about 84 cookies Oven: 375 F 1 1/2 cups butter 1. In a large mixing bowl beat butter with an electric mixer on medium to high speed for 30 seconds. Add sugar and baking powder. Beat until combined, scraping sides of bowl occasionally. Beat in egg, vanilla, and, if desired, almond extract until combined. Beat in as much flour as you can with the mixer. Using a wooden spoon, stir in any remaining flour. 2. Force unchilled dough through a cookie press onto an ungreased cookie sheet. Slice-and-Bake Cookies (http://www.smittenkitchen.com/2007/12/a-slice-and-bake-cookie-palette ) Adapted from Dorie Greenspan, makes about 50 cookies 2 sticks (8 ounces; 230 grams) unsalted butter, at room temperature Options: 1. Put the butter in the bowl of a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and beat at medium speed until it is smooth. Add the sifted confectioners’ sugar and beat again until the mixture is smooth and silky. 2. Working on a smooth surface, form each piece of dough into a log that is about 1 to 1 1/4 inches (2.5 to 3.2 cm) thick. (Get the thickness right, and the length you end up with will be fine.) 3. Position the racks to divide the oven into thirds and preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C). Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. 4. While the oven is preheating, roll cookie logs in any coatings of your choice. 5. Bake the cookies for 12 to 14 minutes, or until they are set but not browned. Transfer the cookies to cooling racks to cool to room temperature.
2. Tangy Lime Cookies
3. Slice-and-Bake Cookies by Smitten Kitchen
4. Spritz by How To Eat A Cupcake
5. Mexican Wedding Cakes
In the end, I kept rubbing and instead of forming into a crescent shape, I split it into 2. Looked like a few fat thumbs baking on a tray.
Unfortunately, no pic was taken as I was very very tired and couldn't concentrate any more.
1/2 cup of powdered sugar
2 tsp of vanilla extract
2 cups of flour
1 cup of walnuts or other nuts - toasted and finely ground (I toasted almond ground nuts that I bought from Phoon Huat)
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 teaspoon almond extract (optional)
3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour1.
3. Bake in a 375 oven for 8 to 10 minutes or until edges are firm but not browned. Transfer cookies to a wire rack and let cool. If desired, dip tops into icing.
2/3 cup confectioners’ sugar, sifted
2 large egg yolks, at room temperature
Pinch of salt
1 teaspoons vanilla or almond extract
2 cups (280 grams) all-purpose flour (I swapped ¼ cup of flour for unsweetened cocoa)
Mix in grated zest of 2 oranges and 1/2 cup dried cranberries
Mix in grated zest of 2 lemons; coat with or mix in 1/4 cup poppy seeds
Mix in grated zest of 2 limes; coat with 1/4 cup cornmeal
Mix in 1/2 cup chopped dried apricots; coat with or mix in 1/2 cup finely chopped pistachios
Mix in 1/2 cup mini chocolate or peanut-butter chips
Mix in 1/4 cup finely chopped candied ginger; coat with or mix in 1/4 cup sesame seeds
Swap ¼ cup of flour for unsweetened cocoa
Swap ½ to 1 cup of flour for ground almonds, pecans, hazelnuts or walnuts
Beat in the egg yolks, followed by the salt and any dried fruits, zest, nuts or seeds. Reduce the mixer speed to low and add the flour, beating just until it disappears. It is better to underbeat than overbeat at this point; if the flour isn’t fully incorporated, that’s okay just blend in whatever remaining flour needs blending with a rubber spatula.
Turn the dough out onto a counter, gather it into a ball, and divide it in half. Wrap each piece of dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for about 30 minutes.
Wrap the logs in plastic and chill for 2 hours. (The dough can be wrapped airtight and kept refrigerated for up to 3 days or stored in the freezer for up to 1 month.)
Then, using a sharp slender knife, slice each log into cookies about 1/3 inch (10 mm) thick. (Blogger: You can make the cookies thicker if you’d like; just bake them longer. Me: I squeezed the dough into a heart shape cutter onto the baking sheet directly.) Place the cookies on the lined baking sheets, leaving about 1/2 inch (1.5 cm) space between them.
Keeping: Packed airtight, the cookies will keep for about 5 days at room temperature, or in the freezer for a month. Unbaked logs can be frozen for longer.
Sunday, December 21, 2008
X'mas Cookies On The Go!
Monday, September 1, 2008
Famous Double Choc Bakes!
So it was 'DOUBLE' choc baking night for me!
Old-Fashioned Chocolate Cupcakes by cupcakeblog
The mixture after beating butter, sugar and eggs. Do not over beat!
Adding the flours.
and the vanilla milk alternatively.
True enough, as per blogger's advice, the mixture was a wet one.
I was just as greedy as Cupcakeblog and didn't heed her advice. Stick to 2/3 or 1/2 full of batter, greedy pigs out there! Otherwise, the cupcakes will shrink and pull away from the cup cases.
It's a really moist and chocolaty cupcakes! Yes, I will use back this recipe when it's been called for.
My 2nd batch turned out better.
What a geat difference!
Recipe: 375 degree oven 1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Famous Amos Choc Chip Cookie It's so easy, you just dump everitin into the bowl and mix! Okie, not all the ingredients. Just the wet ones and sugar. Creamed mixture. Combine the dry ingredients, including the choc chips. And stir in the dry ones into the reamed mixture. I muz say that's a whole lot to be baked... *yawn* I'm a greedy monkey, so I like my cookies to be as big as those from Subway! Well too big? I tink they look just fine and appetising. Unfortunately, it's way past bed time, and I've to wake up for work the next day. So I packed 1 box for my greedy pigs at work, and another for my bro who was eyeing at them while I was baking! Famous Amos Chocolate Chip Cookies Ingredients: Directions Thoroughly cream sugars, margarine, oil, egg, milk and vanilla. It's not the end! Remember the rest of the mixture? I kept them in the fridge for a second round of baking. (Plus both my colleagues and my bro wants more as they were too delicious!) The mixture turned brown overnight, different from yesterday's. It's also hardened and looked dried up! So I added more milk into the mixture, hoping it'll be easier to scoop and bake later. The mixture didn't look any better but was softened alittle for baking. The result was a very crispy and thin cookie. And my colleagues didn't taste the 'Famous Amos' like cookies as the day before!
Makes 14 regular cupcakes
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, room temp1
1/4 cups sugar2 large eggs, room temp
3/4 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 cup milk1 teaspoons vanilla
2. Beat butter until softened. Add sugar and beat until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.
3. Add eggs, one at a time, beating until well combined.
4. Measure the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cocoa powder into a small sized bowl and whisk to combine.
5. Measure out the milk and vanilla and stir to combine.
6. Add about a third of the dry ingredients to the butter/sugar and beat to combine. Add about a half of the milk/vanilla and beat to combine. Continue adding, alternating between dry and wet and finishing with the dry.
7. Scoop batter into cupcake cups about 2/3’s full. Turn oven down to 350 degrees and bake cupcakes for about 22-25 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean.
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Famous-Amos-Chocolate-Chip-Cookies/Detail.aspx
1 cup white sugar
1 cup packed light brown sugar
1 cup butter
1 cup vegetable oil
1 egg
1 tablespoon milk
4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cream of tartar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
Add dry ingredients, nuts and chocolate chips.
Drop by teaspoon onto ungreased cookie sheets. Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 8-12 minutes. (Cookies are light in color when done.)
Monday, July 7, 2008
Betty Crocker's Easy Cookies vs Hershey's
Gradually, got myself hook to it. A change from cakes, I decided to try my hands at cookies after such a long while. To help me warm up the engine, I bought a Betty Crocker's cookies pre-mix. Nevertheless, even a pre-mix may go wrong depending on the baker! HA!
Prepare mixture as per instruction.
The result? Cookies were alittle hard, maybe due to overbaking. Still unsatisfied, I decided to have a go at it myself this time. I saved a few cookie recipes from Hersheys' website and made these Choc Chip Cookies. The mixture is alittle (or alot) wet. Once the dollops of mixture (I can't call it dough, can I?) started baking, they spread out and 'overlap' the each other. The texture is like the softer version of meringue. But my bro likes them and brought a tub to office. I don't understand men's taste?!
