Chocolate Melting moments... really melted

I must have been away for too long. Away from blogging and baking. There's just so much that had happened over the past 5 months. In short, I'll have to face reality, let go and move on. 2 more days before the end of my 1 month medical leave. My boss just sent me an sms asking when I am going back... :P

Always wanted to try the melting moments recipe from Donna Hay, but was always pushed aside by other recipes. Always thought that they can't be too difficult...oh well, so I thought. Guessed I was proved wrong once again. The cookies could not hold the shape in the oven and collapsed into a mess. The more dough I pipe, the worse it gets. those rounded ones looks as if they had a cookie stamp on them. Plus, they are so crumbly! I had to remove them from the baking sheet using a butter knife and even then, several were not spared from being broken. Surprisingly, the taste was good, with a nice buttery, chocholaty flavour and really melted in my mouth. All was good except for the shape the cookie ended up. Something's not right with the flour quantity. Well, I'll have to find some time to revisit this again. If someone out there has an answer, please let me know... Meanwhile, I'll have to wait for my hubby to be back and polish off those broken ones. :P

Recipe (Adapted from Donna Hay, Melting Moments)
175g butter, softened
1/4 cup icing sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup plain flour, sifted (I replace 25g of it with cocoa powder)
1/4 cup cornflour, sifted
1. Preheat oven to 180C. Place butter, icing sugar and vanilla in a bowl and beat with electric beaters till light and fluffy. Stir in the flours/ chocolate powder till conbined.
2. Place the mixture into a piping bag with nozzle 852. Pipe onto baking trays lined with baking paper or silpat mat. Allow space for spreading, very impt!!! Otherwise, will end up like mine, all connected.
3. Bake for 12-14mins and let it cool in the tray.

Peanut cookies

Yes, they are peanut cookies. Just that I am short of the amount required,:P Ended up adding grounded black sesame. Followed the recipe fromY3K 'New Year Cookies'. Wonder if it's the recipe or the plain flour that I used, but the oil quantity indicated in the recipe is less than what I actually used...

Recipe extracted from Y3K

300 grams of peanuts (roasted, milled)

300 grams of plain flour

1/4 tsp of salt

200g caster sugar

150ml of groundnut oil

Mix all ingredients in a big mixing bowl to form a dough. Roll dough into small balls and glaze with beaten egg yolk. Bake at 170 degrees for 15-20 mins.

Note: I used the proportions above, but the oil was insufficient. I had to add more oil slowly to form the dough. Made 2 portions and made 183 pieces. I used a mini ice cream scoop to do this which is so efficient, better than having to roll all the cookies.The cookies tasted ok, quite a fool proof recipe. ;)

Walnut cookies

Just can't stop baking...hee... but I will have to stop for these few days till Friday night. There's just too much work that's so energy zapping. Need to conserve my energy... For walnut cookies, just use Hong Kong flour, which gives that crunchy texture. Will post the recipe soon...akan datang...

Pineapple tarts

The initial raw material

After the 1st hour, before adding the sugar

Passed!

Voila!

It's the season of baking CNY cookies! There's so much I want to do, but I can't possibly get all of them out. Balancing work and hobby is a tricky thing..tsk tsk. Will be starting a new audit next Monday, that means even less time spent on my baking. This year, I finally tried my hands on pineapple tarts, but that's not without going for a class at Creative Culinaire. Armed with the recipes and the hands-on experience of cooking the pineapple jam, I am ready to go!. Took 2 hours to boil down the pinapple into the correct state. Contrary to what some recipes say, I cooked the pineapple together with the juice. Based on Chef Judy Koh, the sugar in the pineapple juice is a natural preservative, thus if we add that, it helps to preserve the jam better. Also the point of readiness is when the jam coats the back of the wooden spoon. When it sticks to the back of the spoon and needs to be shaken off, it's done. Spread the jam out on a board and cool. I let it cool overnight and used them this morning. If you realise that there is liquid oozing out from the jam, it means that it's not cooked dry enough. Just put it back into the pot and cook them till it's drier. Apologies that I can't reproduce the recipes here as they are very much property of the cooking school. :)

Gula Melaka Kueh Bangkit

It's the time to bake CNY cookies again. After 1 year break from Kueh Bangkit, I am trying my hands on it again.

Followed Aunty Yochana's recipe and switched the sugar to gula melaka. The gula melaka really made it fragrant. Can smell it even when the cookies are still in the oven! This batch is just an experiment, to test the texture and refresh myself with the 'feel' again, esp the feeling of the dough, can't be too dry or too wet. My 1st batch was too dry, resulting in a crispy texture. Only the third and fourth tray really churned out the texture that I was looking for, the melt-in-your-mouth texture. My hubby and MIL, both fussy eaters of Kueh Bangkit, gave the thumbs up! Really glad that this recipe works out.

Once again, Thanks to Aunty Lucy!

Sesame soda biscuits

Followed Aunty Yochana's recipe to churn out biscuits in lightning speed! haa..Made these for my hubby who's going away on a business trip. He liked them alot. Only thing I changed is the shortening to butter as I had no shortening on hand. Thanks Lucy!

Cranberry Shortbread Bar

Red Jewels

Fresh cranberries are a rare find in Singapore and when I saw them at the local supermarkets sold at a reasonable price, I immediately grabbed 2 bags and stashed them into the freezer. Cranberries is a must for Christmas, but I did not manage to use it for the X'mas. Instead, I used it to mark the last day of 2008. Lovely jewels, these darlings, and when they are cooked, the skins just burst and the lovely juice coloured the whole pot red. Brillant. My recipe came from here. Once again, another recipe for keeps. Only complaint is that my shortbread did not get golden brown after 30mins at 190C. Maybe it's my oven, but I ended up baking for another 30mins, with 20mins at 200C. At the end of it, the top is still not golden brown and I am running out of time, I did a naughty thing... grilled it for 3mins, and voila! A nicely browned shortbread. Don't worry about the sugar content in the cranberry syrup, it's necessary, otherwise, it's just too sour to eat it fresh. Trust me, I did not believe and tried it right from the packaging. Urksss... really really sour. The wakening effect is better than any espresso!