Flower Butter Cookies For Teacher's Day

So this is pretty much a last minute decision. Always happens. :P Kids come home and reminded me that Teacher's Day is just around the corner. Yeah I rely on them nowadays for these dates because MOE decided that it is best to held these occasions on a Friday, be it Children's Day or Teacher's Day. :P It's all good because it means having a long weekend, woohoo! So back to the kids reminding me about Teacher's day coming soon. Nope, mummy ain't the kind to splurge on presents and what not. I usually just bake. Cookies, cakes and even mooncakes (last year) since it is so close to mooncake festival as well haha. Anyway, I decided to bake a batch of butter cookies in flower shapes...something I did perhaps 3 years back. The idea came when FB did that memory flash back thing a couple days ago. I did not get a chance to post that time though. So here it is!

The formula for the cookies are relatively easy to make, just needs a little patience because of the steps involved in handling the cookie dough and assembling them. But nice right? I bet anyone, not just the teachers will enjoy these. #SureWin

Ingredients for Flower Butter Cookies (makes about 16-20)

Vanilla Dough

200 g salted butter room temp

150 g caster sugar ( I grind it till powdery, easier to melt)

1 tsp pure vanilla extract

1 large egg + 1 egg yolk

410 g all purpose flour

Chocolate dough

10g sifted unsweetened cocoa powder

Chill 20-30 minutes

6 cm diameter Flower and 1.5 cm round cutter

1 egg white

Popsicle / Ice cream sticks

Colourful ribbons

• In a large mixing bowl, add in the butter and sugar. Beat the mixture till light in colour and fluffy. Making sure the sugar is all melted in. Do a little taste test to make sure (I love this part heehee)
• Next add in the vanilla extract, egg and egg yolk. Continue beating till smooth. 

• Lastly, sift in all of the flour. Remember to start the mixer at a slowest speed. You don't want flour flying all over the kitchen. Use the spatular to scrap down the sides.
• Note that the dough will be pull away from the side of the bowl and yet still soft and pliable.

• Divide the dough in to two equal portions. I kinda eyeballed it, too lazy to weigh it out. But please do so if you need to ya. ;)
• Sift in the 10 g of cocoa powder into one of the portion, while you wrap the other in plastic wraps.

• Beat the cocoa powder into the dough for a good 2 to 3 minutes till it is well combined. Then wrap the chocolate dough in plastic wrap as well. Chill them for at least 45 minutes to an hour.

• In the meantime, prepare a clean work surface, some flour to dust it, the cutters and also the ice cream sticks.

• Take out one of the chilled dough from the fridge while leaving the other inside. Take half a portion and roll out the dough into 1/2 cm thickness. Remember you need to work fast as the dough tends to soften and it will be quite hard to handle.

• Cut out as many flower shaped dough as possible with the rolled out dough. Gather the trimmings and roll out again, cut and repeat. Then use the other half of the dough and repeat the same process until all the dough is used. You then use the circle cutter and cut out the center of the flower dough. 

Note: If you choose not to make so many, you can always keep half of the dough portion in the freezer and use it when you feel like having some cookies.

• Chill the cut out flower and circle dough in the fridge. Take out the chocolate cookie dough and do the same thing as before. Cut out the flower dough and then the circle ones. Chill the dough as well.
• After chilling the cut out dough for about an hour, go preheat the oven to 175C. 
• Remove the cut out dough from the fridge. Fit the chocolate circle doughs into the vanilla flower doughs. Then fit the vanilla circle doughs into the chocolate flower doughs.

• Then brush the surface with egg white. Press an ice cream stick in the center as shown below.

• Cover the top with the opposite coloured cookie as shown below. So for this reason, you should always make the same number of vanilla dough cut outs as the number of chocolate dough cut outs. To match up in exact number.

• Repeat the same process until all the dough are assembled and used. Chill in the fridge for 30  minutes before baking.
• Preheat the oven to 175C. Remove the cookies from the fridge and bake in the oven for 15 minutes. You can rotate the tray at mid point around 7 to 8 minutes.

• Once baked, remove from the oven and let cool completely on the baking tray before handling them.
• Decorate with ribbons or mini messages written on the ice cream sticks. ;) Enjoy!

If you plan to make these, you can also omit the ice cream sticks. The flower dough itself is pretty nice. Alternatively, you can use both round cutters and thus making it look like a lollipop instead. Another modification is you may use the same flavour on both sides of the dough, but I kinda prefer the mix which I can get a taste of vanilla and chocolate together. :9 Best part about this? Is to eat a cookie from a stick! :D

Don't limit your creativity and have a blast. Hope the teachers will enjoy these of course. :)

Happy baking folks!

Oreo and Cream with Reeses Chips Cookies

I cannot remember when was the last time I posted a cookie recipe....that's bad. :P Especially since my kiddos are quite a fan of those home baked tollhouse like cookies. But being in this hot and humid country, cookies just makes me feel dry and heaty all inside. :P Hence I tend to opt for baking a cake verses baking cookies. Furthermore, getting the right texture for a good cookie ain't as easy as one thinks! Especially in this kind of humid country, the cookies will turn soft and miserable within hours. Perhaps the saving grace would be a cookie that still taste good even when it is soft and stays chewy after a day or two (if there's any left!). And guess what...I might have found THE COOKIE. ~happy dance~

So what's so special about these cookies you ask? Ohh almost everything about it. From the addition of cream cheese, the Oreo cookie chunks, Reese PB chocolate chips and of course the combination of it all to yield this wonderful piece of sweet indulgence. And of course this awesome recipe is adapted from one of my all time favourite baker, none other then Joy The Baker herself. 

Let us have a look at those ingredients shall we and get that oven working!

Recipe for Oreo and Cream with Reese Chips Cookies (makes 18 to 20 medium to large cookies)

115 g cream cheese at room temperature (Please use Philadelphia brand, tastes better)

115 g unsalted butter at room temperature

220 g soft brown sugar

1 large egg

1 tbsp pure vanilla extract

195 g all purpose plain flour

60 g milk powder

1/4 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

160 g Oreo cookies (about 18 cookies), broken into smaller chunks

150 g Reese PB chocolate chips (or any chocolate chips you like)

Method

• In a large mixing bowl, beat the cream cheese and butter together till light and fluffy. Making sure there are no lumps after beating.
• Next add in the brown sugar and continue to beat till it is fluffy and creamy.
• Crack the egg in, add vanilla extract and continue to beat the mixture.
• In another bowl, sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in. 

• Combine the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and fold till all is well incorporated.

• Lastly, add in the Oreo chunks and Reese PB chocolate chips in. Fold in till combined. 

• Chill the dough in the fridge for an hour or more. Overnight is fine too.
• After an hour, remove the dough from the fridge and preheat the oven to 180C.
• Line a baking tray with parchment paper and grease an ice cream scoop.
• Using the ice cream scoop, scoop the cookie batter on to the baking tray. Leaving about 2-3 inches apart from the other scooped cookie dough balls.

• Bake them in the preheated oven for 13-14 minutes to till the cookies are golden brown.
• Remove from the oven and let the cookies cool on the rack completely before serving. With milk!

My kids were the happiest that afternoon. They were so happy enjoying these delicious cookies. 

Best enjoyed with a glass of cold creamy white milk. :9 My hubby even commented that these were the best cookies I have churned out. :D

Okay folks, do try this out. I personally love it to bits. Such a comforting treat to have and share with the love ones. Make this your weekend project, especially this long weekend!

Enjoy guys and happy baking!

Easter Fun 2015 : Royal Icing Sugar Cookies

What Easter means to my family is usually doing some Easter Egg hunts and enjoying Easter goodies like chocolate eggs and egg-licious dishes. I remember when my kids were younger, we would hide plastic eggs encasing candies, chocolates and even time coupons for games/television sessions! In fact we did just that last year too and the little ones had a ball. This year was kind of different though. My hubby was away on oversea business trip and some how the idea of prepping for the egg hunt alone just didn't excite me. So I suggested doing some decorated sugar cookies with them instead. Though the enthusiasm ain't that high, they went along with it haha!

 And this is the end result of 2 days of work. Although these aren't the pretties looking Easter cookies but I sure had fun making them. ;)  I was glad I finally get to use some of those cookie cutters that has been sitting in my pantry closet like forever haha!

Theme for this cookie project is call "Easter Tea Party" which I featured some tea pots and cups, Easter eggs of course and some Easter animals. I managed to get the little ones to decorate the Easter eggs.

 As you can see the designs are all pretty random and truly "one of a kind" patterns.

I still loved those tea cups and pots shaped ones...makes it look and feel like a tea party with these!

My cookie recipe comes from this book "Biscuiteers Book of Iced Biscuits" by Harriet Hastings & Sarah Moore. Although this book doesn't give much details on the steps on how you should decorate a cookie, but the main guidelines are there. Plus the pictures are so pretty! Truly inspired me to work on this cookie bake. :)

In fact, this is not the first time I have attempted Royal Icing Sugar Cookies. You can check out here to see my previous work. It was a birthday project for a friend's son's 1st birthday. The cookie for that earlier recipe is rather hard though. :P

Here is the recipes, but I did  make some slight changes to it...since I do not have salted butter at hand.

Recipe for Simple Butter Biscuits (makes 30 biscuits)
500g plain flour
180g caster sugar
250g unsalted butter
1/2 tsp salt
2 large eggs
splash of milk (I didn't use)

• Sift flour and sugar together into the mixing bowl and mix well.
• Add butter. Using the tips of your fingers, rub together the ingredients until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs.
• When all the butter is evenly mixed in, make a well in the center and add in the eggs and the milk, if needed. Then mix together till the dough is formed.
• Placed the dough on to  lightly floured work surface. Divide it into 2 equal portions. 
• Place one half of the dough between two large sheet of plastic wrap and roll flat of about 0.8cm to 1 cm thickness. Then chill it for 30 minutes at least before working on it.
• Using your preferred cookie cutter, cut out the shapes and placed the cut out cookies on a parchment lined baking tray. Placed these cookies back in the fridge while you preheat the oven to 170C.
• Once preheated, bake the cookies for 14-18 minutes till the edges are slight toasted and it's light golden brown. Cool the cookies on the rack before working on them.

Recipe for Royal Icing: 

( Note that to prevent the risk of Semolina, use pasteurized eggs
You can get pasteurized eggs here.)

2 pasteurized egg whites
225g confectionery sugar, sifted
Various food colouring (I used Wilton food colouring gel)

• In a large mixing bowl, beat the egg white till foamy. Add the sugar and continue to beat till it reaches stiff peaks.
• Divide the icing into the number of colours you would like to have. I had a total of 6. White, pink, green, blue, yellow and brown. A little goes a long way. Plus going pastel colours would most certainly suitable for this theme.
• Scoop them into piping bags and snip the tip (just a little) of the bag when you are ready to pipe.
• Practice makes perfect. So have fun with it! Just let your imagination go! Do remember to do a Line Icing (which traces the outline of the whole cookie) first. Let dry for 5 minutes before proceeding to the Flooding icing (fills up the surface of the cookie and thus giving it that overall colour). You can later do Line icing again to give it a more defined look after the flood icing has dried up. Refer to here for more pictorial examples.
• These Royal icing can be kept at room temperature for 2-3 days no problem. 

 It is never too late, or too troublesome to start working on something fun! Do try out this really satisfying and fun project with your kids..they will thank you for it! ;)

CNY Bake : Almond Cookies

I am sure most of you have tasted almond cookies before. I would say a good recipe should be those that will slowly melts in the mouth. It should have a faint almond fragrant and sweet buttery after taste. I don't really fancy those that has almond essence nor small almond chunks in them. The essence taste artificial & those chunky almond bits get stuck in my teeth!  If I say I like almond cookies, it is an understatement...I can chow down a tub all by myself if I am not watching my waistline, lol! But hey, looking on the brighter side, almonds has so many health benefits, it's alright to indulge in it right?

It is essential you get whole blanched almonds for this. Roast them and then grind them to fine powdery texture. If you choose to use store bought fine almond flour, it should be okay if you know the store has fresh stock every time. Else those almond powder that has been shelved too long will loose its fragrant and might even have an old stale taste to it. :P

Ingredients for Almond cookies

250g whole blanched almonds

- Roasted at 200C for 10 minutes till slightly golden. Let cool completely then grind it till very fine.

100g plain flour

120g cake flour

1 tsp baking powder

95g confectioner's sugar

1/2 tsp fine salt

100 - 120 ml peanut oil (add enough to make a soft dough)

50g melted unsalted butter

Egg wash for glazing (omit if you want it vegetarian version)

• In a large mixing bowl, sift both flours & baking powder in. Then sift in the confectioner's sugar and salt. Now add in the grind almond and mix well.
• Add in both peanut oil and melted butter. Stir the whole mixture until it comes together to form a soft pliable dough.
• Preheat the oven to 170C. 
• At this point you can choose to cut out or shape the dough into rounds as desired. Lay them on a baking tray lined with parchment paper. Repeat till all the dough has been shaped out.
• Glaze the cookie tops with egg wash.
• Bake the cookies in the oven for 15-18 minutes till light golden brown.
• Remove from oven and let cool before storing. Enjoy!

Don't ask me how many of these cookies I have eaten...I've already lost count, lol! I had to seal the tubs to stop myself from sneaking a few cookies ever so often! 

Even though I baked double the above recipe, it still seems not enough. :P Anyway, I doubt I have the leisure to bake another batch for CNY...since I still have a few more cookies to bake!

I am happy to submit this to Sonia's blog event :Chinese New Year Delights 2013 新春送礼.

Okay folks, gonna go bake more cookies...until next time, happy baking all!

Christmas Tree Macarons & Merry Christmas!

For the past week, my daughter has been very excited about the arrival of Christmas Day. She had even written a letter to Santa, requesting for a nice Christmas present (a giant bubble blower...whatever that means) and said she has been a good girl for the longest time. Among all these excitement, she has not forgotten to play good hostess. She said it is a must that we prepare cookies and milk for Santa when he comes deliver the presents on Christmas night. If we did not prep any cookies, she claim that Santa will be very angry and will not give her the presents. Gosh! The books and programs she's been watching! Well I did played along with her of course, since it is fun for the kids to have a little hope and fantasy. Believe me, we even made my kids believe there is tooth fairy! Lol!

Anyway, I was gonna keep things simple by baking a batch of butter or oatmeal cookies. But when I asked my girl what is her most favorite cookie in the whole world...she said macarons. (I had to ask...);P I played with the idea and then finally decided to make it anyways. And to participate in the AB this month, I piped it into Christmas tree shape!

Tah-dah! Nice? Although the green can be slightly darker, but I am still quite happy with the end result. :) I was a little worried at first as it has been ages since I last baked macarons. ;P But luckily it didn't fail me. *~phew~* And you know who is more excited then me of course....my daughter said "Santa will be very happy".....(*_*")

I

I have used back the same trusty recipe, the Italian meringue method to bake this batch of macarons. :) I used chocolate Swiss Meringue Buttercream as the filling this time, since it's the all time favorite for my family. ;))

Ingredients for Earl Gray Macarons (makes about 25 cookies)

100g Almond meal (I ground mine from whole blanched almonds)
100g icing sugar
38g fresh egg whites (about 2 egg whites)

green food coloring / 1/4 tsp green tea powder
pinch of salt

100g caster sugar
24ml water

38g aged egg whites (about 2 egg whites)

• In a blender, finely ground the almond powder and confectioner's sugar together till powdery like. Then pour it into a bowl and add in green food coloring or green tea powder. Then mix in the egg white and salt. Stir and mix well. Mixture will be thick.

• In a saucepan placed over medium fire, heat up the sugar and water. Once the sugar has all melted, place your candy thermometer in and monitor it till it reaches ~108C. Once it reaches 108C, beat the egg white at high speed till it reaches soft peaks, which by then the temperature should be close to 118C.

• Slowly drizzle the sugar syrup into the egg white while the mixer is still at medium speed. Once all the syrup is in, continue to beat till the meringue is glossy.

• Fold in 1/3 of the meringue into the almond meal mixture. Since the almond mixture is thick, you'll need to stir harder to incorporate it well. Repeat the other 2 portions and fold in gently.

• Scoop the batter into a piping bag with an 10mm nozzle. Pipe out on a baking tray lined with baking parchment paper into seven 20cents coin size circles which forms a Christmas tree. 

•  

•  Let rest the batter till it doesn't stick to your finger's touch. 

• Preheat the oven to 150C with fan off.

• Bake the cookies in the preheated oven for 14mins.

• After baking, remove from oven and let cool completely before peeling off.

Chocolate Swiss Meringue Buttercream:

75g chopped dark chocolate

300g Swiss Meringue Buttercream

Melt the chocolate in the microwave and let cool for a minute before mixing into the room temperature buttercream. 

Assemble:

• Melt about 40g of dark chocolate and dip the ends of the macaron cookie into it. Then let it cool to set.
•   
• Once the chocolate has set, fill macarons with the chocolate SMB and sandwich with one more cookie.
• Decorate the cookie at will or just enjoy them as is. :)

I really enjoyed myself when I made these macarons, so fun! So perhaps you can try it out and get into the festive mood! Go, there's still time, hahaha!

One word....yummy good! 

I would like to take this opportunity to wish all my friends and readers out there a Merry and Blessed Christmas! 

I would like to submit this post to this month's Aspiring Bakers #26 - Creative Christmas Motif Bakes! hosted by Alan of Travellingfoodies.

Thanks for staying with me folks!

Chocolate Granola Wreath with Holly Buttercookies

It's the time of the year for giving again. Getting ready all those Christmas gifts does not necessary have to be such a long tedious chore. Sometimes, simple thoughtful gifts can also reflect your appreciation to your love ones. What better ways then baking up a batch of delicious homemade cookies? But besides the usual Christmas cookies or gingerbread man, what other fun delicious homemade goodies can you make? Well, I have a nice little idea to share with you all, much like the one I posted Chocolate Cornflake Wreath last year...but a healthier version, Chocolate Granola Wreath! :)

Okay, I know, but it sounds and look almost the same as last year, haha! But I guarantee you, this is equally delicious but much more wholesome! With the addition of rolled oats, it not only add on the wholesome goodness, it gives it that distinct texture (which I so love) and fragrant when you chew on it...delish!

In order to join in this month's Aspiring Bakers, I added the extra Christmas Holly butter cookies as part of the deco on the wreath. :) Why let a good post go to waste? Haha! Okay for the butter cookies, please kindly refer to the recipe here. Tint your cookie dough as desired and chill. Then merely use a paper template (self made) and cut out the cookies with a knife. 

You might just skip the step of making this granola and bake these holly butter cookies as a gift too! Not bad an idea too I think. ;) But anyways, who doesn't like a delicious granola to go with those buttery cookies? Lol! Here is my recipe for the granola:

Ingredients for Chocolate Granola Wreath (enough to make a 8"-10" ring)
120g bittersweet chocolate (I used 76% coco Lindt)
4 tbsp honey
1 tbsp unsalted butter
1 cup rice crispies ( I used Kellogg brand)
1 cup old fashioned rolled oats
1/4 cup dried cherries / cranberries / raisins

• In a heat proof bowl, place chocolate, honey and butter in. Either melt these ingredients over the double boiler or simply just microwave it. Mix well till combined.
• Lay some plastic wrap over the tube pan you will be using. (I used a 10" bundt pan)
• Stir the chocolate rice crispies, oats and dried fruit(if using) in and make sure all are coated.
• Spoon mixture into a tube pan (I used an 10" bundt pan). 
• Wrap the mixture up gently with the plastic wrap and chill in the fridge in the tube pan for at least an hour or freeze if you are bringing it to a dinner party. 
• Once the chocolate has set, remove from pan and remove plastic wrap. Decorate at will with colorful ribbons!   

A close look at the granola....loads of texture and goodness. It has a wonderful crunch from the rice crispies, slight tartness from the dried fruits and chewiness from the oats. Best of all, a rich chocolaty taste. Yummy! Remember to use quality chocolate to make this...every bite counts(calories)!

Hope you folks like this recipe and will give it a try. It's really good! You can even try with peanut butter or even white chocolate to have a different variation to this. ;) 

I am happy to submit this post to this month's Aspiring Bakers #26 - Creative Christmas Motif Bakes! hosted by Alan of Travellingfoodies.

Okay, hope you all have a good week ahead!

Cheesy Waffle Bites (一口松饼)

Hope everyone out there is getting their well deserved break during this school holiday. ;) I just got back from a short trip and was really glad to meet up with two of my dear friends whom I haven't seen for 1/2 year. Although it's just for a few days, we still manage to catch up and had fun at the same time. Not to mention our kids played their hearts out and didn't turn in until the wee hours every night. Hopefully we will get to do this again real soon. *fingers crossed*

Just before I left for this trip, I met up with my sisters at my mum's. Have been wanting to bake something nice for them but just didn't get the chance. So I grabbed this opportunity to try out a new recipe and gave them a small treat. ;) A nice recipe adapted from Carol 自在生活, Cheesy Waffle Bites (一口松饼).

Please pardon the uneven coloring of the waffles...should really get a good waffle maker, *sigh*. (-_-") Also, I think I have made mine a little bigger then the original recipe, haha! Regardless of that, the taste of this mini bites was not compromised. ;) It was deli-sh and addictive! My first reaction after tasting the first one was "Why didn't I make more?!" To think that I already doubled the original recipe! Anyway, here it is:

Ingredients for Cheesy Waffle Bites (一口松饼): (makes about 24-26)

200g cake flour, sifted

80g powdered sugar

100g unsalted butter, cubed and chilled

20g grated Parmesan cheese

20g milk powder

50g whole beaten egg

Method:

• In a large mixing bowl, add in the flour, powered sugar, milk powder and cheese in. Stir in to mix well.
• Then add in the chilled cubed butter and rub it in with your fingers. When the mixture resembles bread crumbs, you can then add in the beaten egg.
• Stir well to form a soft pitiable dough. At this point you can either chill or work with it right away. Divide the dough into small ball portions of about 1.5cm diameter. (I didn't measure exactly, so it turned out bigger. :P)
• 
• Preheat your waffle maker and grease the surface if needed.
• Then place each "joint" of the waffle maker a dough portion and close the cover.
• 
• Cook for about 4-5 minutes and open the cover. Remove and let cool on rack. Repeat till all the dough portions are cooked.

These cheesy waffle bites really live up to it's name, it literally melt in the mouth! 真的入口就松！My kids love these, snacking on it one after another. ;) I love them too, but vow to add more cheese the next round, perhaps double it to make it extra cheesy, heehee! In fact these taste like cookies more then the usual fluffy waffles we know. ;)

All packed and ready to be given away and share with my sisters. How about you try it out yourself? I am sure it's a nice treat for yourself too, a yummy afternoon tea snack. :)

Okay, got to run! Have a great day everyone!