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, December 15, 2008
Orange's American Choc Cake and X'mas Shortbread
And I'd asked Pig along too.
After much 'flipping' among the choc cake recipes in my hard drive, I chose this American Choc Cake by Cuisine Paradise blogger for its simplicity.
Creaming of the butter and sugar till pale and fluffy, before the addition of the eggs and vanilla essence.
Then the addition of flours and cocoa mixture.
Instead of stirring, I con't to beat at the slowest speed till all flours and cocoa had been incorporated.
Finally, baked in pre-heated oven at 180 Deg C for 15-20mins.
Wala! My first cake that rose, though still not high enough.
Yes! More room for improvement is needed!
Coming to the shortbread now, which I started baking only in the evening.
The shortbread recipe was from Joy of Baking, and I added 1/2 cup of choc chips to the shortbread to enhance the taste.
It took me a pretty long time to cut out the shapes as the dough was too soft. I added more plain flour along with corn flour as I kneaded the dough.
The shortbread cookie turned out crisp yet melted in the mouth once a bite was taken. I made a batch of 56 cookies, mainly because the cookie cutter I used was small. By the time I finished with the last tray, it was 5+am! With the crockeries waiting in the wash basin, I washed all up till the sun rose. And since I still had that much energy left, I made choc frosting for Orange's choc cake, and crushed and sprinkled the remaining digestive biscuits around the side. I was so tired when the cake was done, and couldn't go on anymore. Needless say, no writings were on the cake. American Choc Cake (http://ellenaguan2.blogspot.com/2005/06/american-chocolate-cake.html) Ingredients for Chocolate Ganache Shortbread Cookies (http://www.joyofbaking.com/shortbreads/shortbreadcookies.html) Author's suggestion to make them more flavorful by adding: The texture of shortbread can also be changed by replacing 1/4 cup (35 grams) of the flour with rice flour to give them a slightly crunchy texture. Or, for a more delicate tasting shortbread with a melt-in-your-mouth texture, replace 1/2 cup (70 grams) of the flour with cornstarch (corn flour).
Ingredients for Cake
125g Butter
175g Brown Sugar
1/2 tsp Vanilla essence
2 Eggs
35g Cocoa Powder
130ml Warm Water
140g Self-Raising Flour
1. Mix in cocoa powder and water. Beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
2. Add in eggs, one at a time. Add in vanilla essence, beating well after each addition until well combine.
3. Then add in a bit of cocoa mixture and flour slowly until finish.
4. Spoon batter into a 10”X14”X1” cake tin. Bake in preheated oven at 180degree for 15-20 minutes.
100ml Dairy Whipping Cream
125g Dark Chocolate
1. Heat dairy whipping cream until it comes to just under the boil, off the fire and adds in dark chocolate, mix well.
2. Slit cake into 3 layers. Spread ganache over first layer, cover with another layer. Repeat twice. Cover the top with ganache.
2 cups (280 grams) all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon (2 grams) salt
1 cup (2 sticks) (226 grams) unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 cup (60 grams) powdered (confectioners or icing) sugar
1 teaspoon (4 grams) pure vanilla extract
1. In a separate bowl whisk the flour with the salt. Set aside.
2. In the bowl of your electric mixer (or with a hand mixer), cream the butter until smooth (about 1 minute).
3. Add the sugar and beat until smooth (about 2 minutes). Beat in the vanilla extract. Gently stir in the flour mixture just until incorporated. latten the dough into a disk shape, wrap in plastic wrap, and chill the dough for at least an hour.
4. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (177 degrees C) with the rack in the middle of the oven. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
5. On a lightly floured surface roll out the dough to 1/4 inch (.5 cm) thick.
Cut into rounds or whatever shapes you wish using lightly floured cookie cutter. Place the cookies on the prepared baking sheet and place in the refrigerator for about 15 minutes. This will firm up the dough so the cookies will maintain their shape when baked. Bake for 8 - 10 minutes, or until cookies are lightly brown.
6. Cool on rack.
Shortbread will keep well in an airtight container for about a week or frozen for several months.
Makes about 20 shortbread cookies.(Well maybe for larger cookie cutter)
1/2 cup (90 grams) of chocolate chips or cut up semisweet chocolate,
1 tablespoon of instant espresso powder for a coffee taste,
1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon,
or 1 tablespoon of finely chopped orange or lemon zest.