That Almost Famous Cookies ... Almost

CNY is around the corner ... Last year I baked marble cakes for my colleagues which looks very miserable and small ... This year I am so motivated to bake something more?

I was thinking of Kek lapis .... CRAZY!!!! I'll over work my poor oven ... or macaroon it will look very classy but not yet pass as to date .... Cookies!!!! Idiot proof and I can't go wrong.

In total I bake 7 batches in 4 days... Not bad hor ... 

Why cookies? 1. It doesn't have to be pretty 2. No specific shape 3. All u need is 2 spoons to shape it.

I want to bake some cakes to go with the cookies but I won't be in so early tomorrow and I do not want to go around with big bags ... Heavy you know.

I hope the receiver will love the small token before I MIA from work hee hee

Stickers are design by my dear hubby ...

It looks reddish brown cos of the infused coffee oil.

It's reddish cos I added food coloring ... Due to upcoming festive holiday tong tong tong Chiang 

Ingredients

250g salted butter,softened (i used SCS)

200g light brown sugar

1/4 tsp salt 

1/2 tsp coffee oil

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/4 cup oats,processed to bits in a chopper (i put nestum instead)

1/4 cup ground almonds (i omit this)

1/2 cup of your favourite nuts,chopped finely (optional)(i put in chopped hazelnut)

1 pack of Nestle Tollhouse semi-sweet chocolate chips OR chocolate chunks 

300g self-raising flour 

Method

This is the most important step,at least 2 hours before,or the night before,beat the egg with the vanilla and the coffee oil to infuse or you can do this the night before,refrigerate it then bring it to room temperature before baking.

Preheat oven to 160C.

To the softened butter,beat in the sugar and the salt to combine. Beat in the egg and stir in the processed oats,ground almonds,optional chopped nuts and the chocolate chunks. Sift the flour and fold it in,this dough will not be too stiff but not too wet either.

For small cookies,place half-tsp of the dough,spaced slightly apart on the cookie sheet and bake for 9 to 10 minutes.

For large cookies, place rounded tbsp of the dough spaced apart on the cookie sheet and bake for 20 to 22 minutes.

Cool completely and let it sit overnight in an airtight container,this is for the flavour and fragrance to develop further.

Source: Kak Rima @ www.bisousatoi.com

Baked Mushrooms

Baked Mushroom – Nurul’s Recipe

Preparation time: 15mins
Total cooking time: 15mins
Serve 4

Ingredients:
250g (8oz) button mushrooms
200g (6 1/2oz) oyster mushrooms
200g (6 1/2oz) shiitake mushrooms
100g (3 1/3oz) swiss brown mushrooms

Toppings:
1 cup (80g) fresh breadcrumbs
1/4 cup (25g) freshly grated parmesan cheese
2 tbsp chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
1 tbsp chopped thyme
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 tsp cracked pepper
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

Method:

Preheat oven to moderate 180C.  Wipe the mushrooms with damp paper towel. Trim away the hard tips and discard.  Cut any large mushroom in halflengthways

Sprinkle the base of a large baking dish with a little water.  Place the mushrooms in a single layer in the dish, stems upwards.

To make Toppings: Mix together the breadcrumbs, parmesan, herbs, garlic and pepper, sprinkle ove the mushrooms and drizzle with oil.  Bake for 12 - 15 mins and serve warm.

C O O K ' S   F I L E

Note: Use day-old bread which slightly stale to make breadcrumbs.  Simply remove the crusts and chop in a food processor until the crumbs form.

Hint: Always wipe mushrooms clean with a damp paper towel - washing will make them soggy.

Hokkaido Chiffon Cupcakes

Source: Sugar & Everything Nice

Hokkaido Chiffon Cupcakes 
Makes about 10 cupcakes 
Recipe Adapted from Nasi Lemak Lover

Ingredients for the Cupcake:
3 egg yolks
1/8 tsp of salt 
20g vegetable oil (you can also use corn/canola/sunflower oil) 
20g milk 
25g self-raising flour 
105g egg whites (about 3 eggs) 
1/8 tsp cream of tartar 
40g castor sugar 

Method: 

1) Whisk egg yolk with salt. Add in oil and milk and mix well. 
2)  Sift flour and baking powder into the egg yolk mixture. 
3) Beat egg whites with cream of tartar until foamy and then slowly add in the sugar and beat till soft peaks 
4) Fold in half of the egg whites into the cake batter and mix until incorporated using a whisk or spatula. Then add in the other half and mix them evenly (do not overmix - you want to maintain the volume of the cake batter). 
5)  Fill the mixture into the cupcake liners.
6)  Bake at pre-heated oven at 160c for 20mins. Leave to cool completely before filling.
7) Make a small hole at the middle, pump the custard cream into the chiffon. Chill for at least an hour before serving.
Custard Cream Filling:

Ingredients:
30g non-dairy whipped fresh cream, cold from the refrigerator
1 tsp custard powder

Add the custard powder to the fresh cream and whip until it is almost stiff peaks. 

Soft and Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies

I had an interesting day today ... We went bowling at 9am to avoid the crowd.  Conclusion I suck big time lol ... should have just gone for archery instead haiz ...

So after bowling is Art Science Museum ... hmmm ... it didnt happen ... on the way there it rained so heavily so we U-turned and went home. =( Sad huh ...

Since we din go to the Museum I have nothing to do ... so boring! so I decided to bake ... heeh.

Taken from: Martha Stewart

Soft and Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients

• 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1 cup packed light-brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 2 large eggs
• 2 cups (about 12 ounces) semisweet and/or milk chocolate chips

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a small bowl, whisk together the flour and baking soda; set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the butter with both sugars; beat on medium speed until light and fluffy. Reduce speed to low; add the salt, vanilla, and eggs. Beat until well mixed, about 1 minute. Add flour mixture; mix until just combined. Stir in the chocolate chips.
2. Drop heaping tablespoon-size balls of dough about 2 inches apart on baking sheets lined with parchment paper.
3. Bake until cookies are golden around the edges, but still soft in the center, 8 to 10 minutes. Remove from oven, and let cool on baking sheet 1 to 2 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack, and let cool completely. Store cookies in an airtight container at room temperature up to 1 week.
   
   
   

Caramel Cake

I've done this before ... the link is below. Erm I think previous attempt was much better.

Click here for recipe.

Ferrero Rocher Brownie

RICH . CHOCOLATEY . YUMMMMOOOH!!!

Source: Kak Rima

For Brownie:
113g unsweetened chocolate; coarsely chopped - Kak Rima used 55% valrhona (I used normal choc)
96g unsalted butter, cut into cubes
250g sugar
3 large eggs
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1/4 tsp salt
120g all-purpose flour
12 Ferrero Rocher candies, sliced in half

For the Nutella Buttercream:
60g unsalted butter, softened
1/3 cup Nutella
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
150g confectioners' sugar (icing)
2 tablespoons heavy cream

DIRECTIONS:
1. Preheat oven to 165deg C. Line an 8×8 inch baking pan with foil and spray with nonstick cooking spray.

2. Microwave chocolate and butter in a large bowl microwave-safe bowl at medium (50% power) for 3-4 minutes or until butter is melted - i melted butter and pour it over my valrhona

3. Stir until chocolate is melted. Whisk in sugar, eggs, vanilla and salt. Gradually add in flour; stir until just combined.

4. Spread 1/2 the batter into prepared pan. Add an even layer of Ferrero Rocher candies and cover with remaining 1/2 of brownie batter. Bake for 30 minutes; do not over bake.

5. Remove to cooling rack to cool completely.

6. Prepare the Nutella Frosting. In a medium bowl with an electric hand mixer, cream the butter and Nutella until fully combined. Add in the vanilla extract, confectioners' sugar and heavy cream and mix on low speed until all sugar is incomporated. Turn mixer to medium-high speed and beat the frosting for about to minutes. The frosting will be thich, smooth and creamy. Frost cooled brownies and slice before serving.

The Shepherd's Pie

Not your normal Hari Raya dish but my mom requested for 2 medium trays of shepherd's pie.  

I also have some friends asking for this recipe ... I like to make changes from time to time cos there's no right or wrong shepherd's pie.  This recipe has gone a lot of changes ... in school, Secondary 2 to be exact, it was a super basic pie ... its just potatoes season with salt and pepper, filling was minced chicken, onion, garlic, salt and pepper and abit of butter to finish off ...

So you see this recipe has evolve for the passed 16yrs ... and I kept adding more ingredient to the recipe ... to make it AWESOME!

• Boil potatoes for 1 to 1 1/2hr depending on the quantity and size of the potatoes
• Once cooked, drained and peel the jacket (if you boil together with the jacket). Season with salt and pepper.  Butter and milk are optional. Mashed and mix till smooth or leave bits and pieces of chunks are ok too.

Potatoes:

potatoes - use russet potatoes (scrub clean and boil with jacket on til cook)
salt and pepper to taste

  *Optional
soft butter

milk
parmesan cheese

•  Minced meat (I used beef - the choice is yours)
• Garlic and ginger - chop, onion - diced
• *Optional - Tomatoes, capsicums, mushroom (put can, don't put also can, put other things also can)

•  Seasoning - Tomato sauce, salt, pepper, black pepper
• *Optional - Blended chili
• Oil to fry

• Sautee garlic, ginger and onions
• Once soft add in the minced meat
• Mix well
• The liquid will come from the meat cook til the liquid dry up

• Season with salt and pepper
• Continue to cook it for 5mins
• *Optional - add blended chili (can omit) and cook it for 10 to 15mins or until its well cook [add black pepper once its half way cook]

•  Off the heat
• Add tomato sauce and the *Optional ingredients such as tomato, capsicum and mushroom
• Mix well and put aside ... let it cool before use

Use a good quality Mozzarella Cheese!

• grease aluminum tray, pyrex or oven-prove dish with butter.
• take 1/2 of the potato mixture and line the bottom of the dish
• then take a generous amt of filling and layer it on top of the lined potato mixture
• cover it with mozzarella cheese
• take the remaining mixed potatoes and cover the filling
• dot the top with butter (I have none left hahha)
• add generous amt of mozzarella cheese on top.

Bake it for abt 10min on a pre-heat oven of 190C or until the cheese has melted and turn golden brown

Kek Lapis Cadbury (1st try)

1st try ... Its not that successful I guess ... and its super thick ... might try again ... will see how lol.

Source: Rozzan

KEK LAPIS CADBURY

Bahan-Bahan
500 gm mentega
10 biji telur
150 gm gula
100 gm tepung biskut marie
1 peket santan serbuk (50 gm) [I did not use this but I use 150g of biskut marie instead)
100 gm susu manis
180 gm tepung gandum
coklat cadbury secukupnya (saya gunakan cokelat Van Houten) [I used cadbury and I think need to get 2 box for 1 batch)

Cara:
1) Pukul mentega dan gula hingga kembang.
2) Masukkan telur satu persatu hingga habis.
3) Masukkan tepung biskut marie, tepung gandum, santan dan susu. Gaul rata.
4) Bakar lapisan pertama hingga masak.
5) Ratakan adunan untuk lapisan kedua dan susun coklat cadbury.
6) Bakar hingga masak. Ulang hingga habis.

Gunakan Loyang 9”x9” (saya gunakan 8"x8")

Catitan Saya:
1) Saya buat dua lapisan berwarna dan cuma bubuh cokelat pada setiap lapisan (plain) ketiga jer. 2) Gunakan api grill sahaja dgn suhu kira-kira 200 darjah Celsius.
3) Masa membakar kira-kira 1 jam 20 minit.

Almost Famous Cookies

For this coming Raya ... this is the only cookies I made (want to send to LA ... fuuuh I've never been to LA before but my cookies will reach there anytime soon... LOL!).  Cos MIL has her stash for Raya goodies and my friend, Nurul gave me Cornflakes Macaroons.  I do not want to bake more cookies cos last year was such a waste.  So I am contented with small amount of goodies this year.

But ... this year I will try some of the cake recipes that I saw online.  I hope it turns out well lah.

Ingredients

250g salted butter,softened (i used SCS)

200g light brown sugar

1/4 tsp salt 

1/2 tsp coffee oil

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/4 cup oats,processed to bits in a chopper (i put nestum instead)

1/4 cup ground almonds (i omit this)

1/2 cup of your favourite nuts,chopped finely (optional)(i put in chopped hazelnut)

1 pack of Nestle Tollhouse semi-sweet chocolate chips OR chocolate chunks 

300g self-raising flour 

Method

This is the most important step,at least 2 hours before,or the night before,beat the egg with the vanilla and the coffee oil to infuse or you can do this the night before,refrigerate it then bring it to room temperature before baking.

Preheat oven to 160C.

To the softened butter,beat in the sugar and the salt to combine. Beat in the egg and stir in the processed oats,ground almonds,optional chopped nuts and the chocolate chunks. Sift the flour and fold it in,this dough will not be too stiff but not too wet either.

For small cookies,place half-tsp of the dough,spaced slightly apart on the cookie sheet and bake for 9 to 10 minutes.

For large cookies, place rounded tbsp of the dough spaced apart on the cookie sheet and bake for 20 to 22 minutes.

Cool completely and let it sit overnight in an airtight container,this is for the flavour and fragrance to develop further.

Source: Kak Rima @ www.bisousatoi.com

Cake and Cookies

It is so easy that you are not able to screw it up hahah ... Second attempt was much better than the first.
I hope ibu likes the cake.  Since she likes messy cakes, I try to make it as messy as possible lol ... 
This is my first layered cake.  It was very hard to stake it all up ... cos it slides off ... but I managed it some how lah ... 


Since ibu do not like dark chocolate, I used milk chocolate dots for the chocolate ganache. All in all it was a success.

QUICK CHOCOLATE CAKE

9" square tin greased and lined
Preheat oven to 175C

Ingredients
450g  castor sugar
224g  all purpose flour
96g    cocoa powder
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
2 large eggs - slightly beaten
240ml milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup boiling water

Method:
In a large bowl, mix all the dry ingredients with a whisk ensuring that they are properly mixed. Make a well in the center and add in eggs, milk, oil and vanilla extract. Whisk this well to ensure that there are no lumps for approximately 2mins. You may use an electric mixer at low speed. Lastly add the boiling water to the batter and continue to whisk carefully. Mix well.

Pour batter (may look alittle runny) in prepared tin and bake for about 30-35mins, or till skewer comes out clean when checked at the center of cake.
Source: Sheen Mars

The ganache I doubled the quantity cos I worried that I can't cover the whole cake... But in the end I have excess.

Ingredients:
160ml heavy cream
283.5g chocolate baking discs / chopped chocolate

Method:
Quick Ganache

• Place chocolate in stainless steel bowl, set aside.  Heat cream in a small saucepan over high heat until just boil
• Pour hot cream over chocolate, stirring until smooth

Source: Sarah

I have left over ganache so I decided to use it as cookies filling.  It looks sooo chocolatey cos I do not have enough 2tbsp of red colour hee hee ...

Red Velvet Polka Dot Cookies
Makes 30 cookies

240g butter, softened
300g granulated sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
220g all-purpose flour
96g cocoa powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
2 tbsp red food colouring (I put in 1 cap full that is why its not red enough hee hee)
1 (11-ounce) white chocolate chips (I omit this cos I don't have any =D)

Preheat the oven to 176 degrees C. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream the butter and sugar until light-colored.  Add the eggs and vanilla and beat until fluffy and light.

In a small bowl, use a fork to mix together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt. Use the fork to break up lumps of cocoa powder. Add the dry ingredients to the butter in the mixer a little at a time, mixing well after each addition and occasionally scraping down the sides of the bowl. When the dough is thoroughly mixed, add the food coloring, beating until the dough is a dark red color. If you have some place important to be or just had a manicure, I’d recommend wearing gloves. That red food colouring will show up in the oddest places. When the dough is evenly colored, stir in all but about 1/2 cup of the white chocolate chips until mixed in.

Scoop the dough onto the lined baking sheets using a 2 tablespoon cookie scoop or spoon. Place the cookies apart from each other to allow room for spreading. You will have enough dough to use on a third pan of cookies after these have cooked. Wet your fingers and lightly press down the top of each cookie mound, then press the remaining white chips into each cookie to create the polka dots. The cookies spread, so press a lot of chips into the cookies.

Bake the cookies for 10–12 minutes until firm in the center. Cool on the pans for a few minutes until firm, then remove to wire racks to cool completely.  When one pan has cooled, repeat with the rest of the cookie dough. Stored in an airtight container, the cookies will keep for several days.

Source: CSMonitor

Chocolate Chiffon Cake

Source: Basic Kitchen


Ingredients
115 g dark, semisweet chocolate
1/2 c (125 ml) water
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup (140 g) flour
1 tsp baking powder
5 eggs, separated
2/3 cup granulated sugar
1 tsp vanilla essence

Preheat the oven to 350 F/180 C.
Break the chocolate into square and put with the water and salt put in the microwave over for 15s or until the chocolate melt (it should not take more than 30s).
In a bowl, mix together 1 cup flour and baking powder.
Grease a 24 cm baking tin. 
Put the egg whites into a bowl and beat until soft peaks. Fold in sugar.
When chocolate mixture has cooled, add egg yolks and vanilla. Stir in flour and baking powder mixture until well combined.
Gently fold into egg white mixture.
Pour into prepared pan and bake for 30 to 45 minutes or until a tester comes out clean.
Let cool and then ice with chocolate frosting (I dust icing sugar on top).

Chocolate Cake with Chocolate Ganache

My baking mood is back!

QUICK CHOCOLATE CAKE


9" square tin greased and lined
Preheat oven to 175C

Ingredients
450g  castor sugar
224g  all purpose flour
96g    cocoa powder
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
2 large eggs - slightly beaten
240ml milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup boiling water

Method:
In a large bowl, mix all the dry ingredients with a whisk ensuring that they are properly mixed. Make a well in the center and add in eggs, milk, oil and vanilla extract. Whisk this well to ensure that there are no lumps for approximately 2mins. You may use an electric mixer at low speed. Lastly add the boiling water to the batter and continue to whisk carefully. Mix well.

Pour batter (may look alittle runny) in prepared tin and bake for about 30-35mins, or till skewer comes out clean when checked at the center of cake.
Source: Sheen Mars

Ingredients:
160ml heavy cream
283.5g chocolate baking discs / chopped chocolate


Method:
Quick Ganache

• Place chocolate in stainless steel bowl, set aside.  Heat cream in a small saucepan over high heat until just boil
• Pour hot cream over chocolate, stirring until smooth

Source: Sarah

Cool the cake on the cooling rack, once cool, pour the ganache on the cake.