Chocolate Chip Cookies

Chocolate Chip Cookies

Like anyone else who love chocolate that is, I can never resist a chocolate chip cookie.
I love them, with nuts, without nuts, with oats and even the double chocolate ones.
I think I've baked hundreds of these chocolatey nuggets but never tried the what I call white ones.
White because the biscuit is light in colour and the chips can be seen.
The recipe that we have is double chocolate, so the mixture is dark due to cocoa powder and lots of chocolate chips. The white bits would be the nuts. It is kinda hard to tell when it is ready and more than once I burnt these delectable cookies due to my carelessness!!

As always I was browsing blogs and sites looking for something else when I stumbled across a recipe on BBC Good Food. It was called Vintage Chocolate Chip cookie, now with a name like that who wouldn't want to take a peek at what it is about.

I read through the recipe and found it easy enough, I had almost all the ingredients. I didn't have any chips so I chopped away at a block of cooking chocolate instead, the result as you can tell from the dark patches on the cookie was very satisfying. I intend to just use chunks the next time too.
The masses enjoyed these very much and I have a feeling I will be making them several more times.

The recipe doesn't call for any nuts, although they did say you could add some. I added about 1/2 a cup of chopped walnuts to the mixture. I divided the dough into two, leaving one as it is and the other I added 1/4 cup of oats. The masses couldn't decide which was better but loved both versions.

No heavy machinery required, a wooden spoon is sufficient. Use a hand stand if you like.
This batter is rather wet, so I suggest if you don't want to get your hands dirty use a  ice cream scoop or two spoons. I just used my fingers and 'agak-agak' the size of each cookie.

The recipe, should you want to try is as follows:

Vintage Chocolate Chip Cookies
source: BBC Good Food

Ingredients
150g butter
80g castor sugar (I only added 50g)
80g brown sugar
2 tsp vanilla
1 egg
225g all purpose flour
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1/4 tsp salt (I didn't)
200g chocolate chips or chunks

Method
Cream butter and sugar until creamy.
Add the egg and vanilla, beat some more.
Gradually add the flour and mix well.
Lastly fold in the chocolate chips or chunks and if using, the nut/oats.

Drop the cookies, using spoons or ice cream scoop onto a greased oven tray.
It spreads so don't put them so close.
Bake at 180 C for 20 min.

Enjoy the cookies with ice cream or on its own.


Happy Baking!

more biscuits for Hari Raya

Just when I thought I could keep all my baking stuff, Mum tells me all the cookies are dark.
She wanted a variety, so I dragged out all my stuff and feet to start baking again.

Today I made Biscuit Dahlia.

Feeling rather rajin I decided to measure out the recipe for sugar cookies.
They are basically plain butter cookies and it is up to you to decorate it.
I got the recipe from BBC and it was a Christmas deco but edible cookie.

This year I egg washed it and sprinkled some purple coloured sugar and pink, red and white hearts and named them The Love Bears! I think they are so adorable and cute plus yummy as well!

The recipe for Biscuit Dahlia can be found here.
The recipe for the Bears of Love can be found here.

Happy Baking.

Pineapple Tarts

No way I am getting away with NOT baking pineapple tarts!
It happens to be my mum's all time favourite.
But at least now I don't have to make the jam anymore, it is easily available at all supermarkets and
baking goods shops. One less chore for me!

Through out the years, my mum and I experimented with a lot of recipes for pineapple tarts.
Once upon a time ago, we even made our own jam. Yep buy by the lorry load from the market.
Peel, slice and then grate it all before the slow process of cooking the jam. Let me tell you, if my poor fingers could talk, they'd probably tell you how many times they got burnt and oh... the jam too, occasionally!

We did the pineapple tarts, the ones where you just use a cookie cutter and press the jam on top, another version was clipping the edges finely! Hated that one!
There was the one shaped like a pineapple, hmm... if my poor thumbs could speak! I endured painful fingers holding that tiny scissors clipping away the pattern of the fruit! Then came the pain staking process of shoving a clove as stem of the fruit!  Horrible! I hated that one even more.

I must have made close to a million of these tarts, for sale and our own consumption. Frankly it is not my favourite kuih raya.

Then one fine day, we discovered the nastar or pineapple roll. I love this, easy and fast. The hard part is rolling the jam into small balls and of course refilling the mould! I have several moulds but strangely I just like one, it is my favourite one and works wonderfully! But after a few hundred, favourite or not, my poor thumbs ache!

Here are some of the types of moulds that can be used for this recipe, just use the one that you are comfortable with.

The recipe I have is by Amy Beh from her book At home with Amy Beh (vol 1)
I didn't follow the recipe for the jam as I bought mine. Roll the jam into small balls, believe me it makes life with the pineapple tarts a whole lot easier!!

pic courtesy of Google.











Pineapple Tarts
source: Amy Beh

Ingredients
Pastry
150g buter
100g margarine
75g icing sugar
2 egg yolks
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp salt (I didn't add this)

350g all purpose flour
100g corn flour

For the glaze: (I didn't follow this, I egg washed mine with just a whole egg and a bit of water)
1 egg yolk
1 tsp condensed milk
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp water


Method
In a bowl, combine both butter and margarine with the icing sugar.
Beat in the yolks. Add in vanilla.
Gradually add in both flours until it becomes a firm dough.

Put enough dough into the mould and using both thumbs, gently press it out.
Leave about a few inches long, enough to put the balls of jam and to roll later.
After rolling the dough with the jam, cut off the excess and place on a well greased
baking tray.
Brush lightly with the egg wash and bake for 15-20 min at 175C or until golden brown.

Once cooked allow to cool before removing from baking tray.
Sometimes, the egg wash makes the cookie stick to the tray, using a butter knife gently pry it from the
tray. Be careful, the tart is fragile at this point and breaks easily.

The balls of pineapple jam

Pipe out the stripes of dough and place the ball of jam and roll.

Place them on the baking tray and brush the egg wash.

Bake until golden brown - yummy!

Happy Baking.

Samperit

Yes, yes Hari Raya is almost here. Kuih raya is a must in most household if not all. It doesn't matter whether it is bought or homemade, you definitely will find several decorative balangs of kuih during Open Houses.
We do celebrate Raya but rather low key, if compared to the norm.
To me it holds too many memories that aren't that memorable but that's me.
It is the festive season after a month of fasting, so feasting is inevitable although better avoidable ... LOL

There's an additional cookie to my list of kuih raya this year. Samperit! I haven't baked any in ages.
But my sister nak makan, so I searched the blogs for a yummy and good looking one.
After going through several, I came across one LiNa Pg's blog recipe for the samperit/dahlia kuih raya looked good. Terima kasih banyak-banyak, kak!

In her recipe, she used another acuan and made kuih dahlia. I used another and left out the cherries.
I used the acuan for muruku, the one that looks like a T. I pressed out long stripes before cutting it shorter.
See pics, the muruku acuan I meant is the brown coloured one. You could also use the white smaller one, but it would take longer to finish.

The biscuit is crunchy yet delicious. Very addictive, you'll find yourself eating several at one sitting!
Beware, if too thin the biscuit is very fragile.
Sprinkle some edible coloured sugar on top just before baking for some variety or colour, leaving it as it is fine too.

The recipe is as follows.

Samperit/Dahlia
source: Teratak Mutiara Kasih, Puan LiNa_Pg

300g butter
160g icing sugar (sieved)
2 egg yolks
1 tsp vanilla
240g all purpose flour
100g corn flour
160g custard powder

Method
Sieve all three flours and put aside.
In a bowl, I used a wooden spoon and combine the sugar and butter.
Do not over mix, as the dough will spread when baked and the patterns cannot be seen.
Mix just until the sugar dissolves.
Add the yolks and vanilla. Mix again.
Lastly add in the flour in 2 batches.
Mix until the dough becomes firm.
Form into balls and put into desired acuan.
Bake at 140C for 20 min or less. It depends on your ovens.
The yellow dough would turn slightly brown when cooked.

Happy Baking.

Cookies

Biskut Ribbon a.k.a Biskut Dahlia

For as long as I could remember my mum had always called them, biscuit Ribbon.

Nope I don't know why and she doesn't either! But as then later I discovered through magazines, cook books and friends, these delicious cookies have another name...

This recipe requires a special acuan for the flowers to come out.

You probably seen it before, it looks like a fat syringe and instead of a needle there is a patterned design at the bottom. I'm afraid I haven't a picture of it but I'll add it later.

So okay, here is the recipe:

Biskut Ribbon aka Biskut Dahlia

4 oz custard powder (I use Bird's Custard Powder )

1 egg yolk

1 tsp vanilla

6 1/2 oz butter

4 1/2 oz icing sugar (sieved)

enough chopped red or green  glazed cherries as decoration

Method

Combine all ingredients in a bowl until it becomes a smooth dough.

Form small sausage like shapes of the dough to fit into the tube and then using the slender piece press out the dough to get the cookie. Then place the cherries in the middle of the flower.

It is more easier if you pipe the cookie straight away onto the greased baking tray, transferring is tricky and you might lose some petals.

Bake at 160C fot about 20 minutes.

Happy Baking.

Biscuits.

Everyone loves these, including myself and they are easy to bake.
It doesn't require much to make them and are very addictive!
Nama je Christmas Cookies, but you can make it anytime with any theme you want. The basic biscuit is important, be creative and create various designs to decorate.

Christmas Cookies.
source: BBC Food Recipes

100g butter
100g caster sugar
1 egg (beaten slightly)
275g flour (I used Tepung Gandum Blue Key)
1 tsp vanilla

For icing on the top
400g icing sugar (sieve first or you'll encounter lumps)
3-4 Tbsp water
A few drop of food coloring of your choice
edible glitter

Method
Cram butter and sugar until fluffy.
Add in beaten egg and vanilla, a little at a time. Mix well.
Roll out dough onto a floured surface to a thickness of 1 cm.
Using biscuit cutters,of your choice, cut out the biscuits and place
them onto a greased baking tray.
Bake at 160 C for about 10 min. Keep an eye on them or they'll burn.
Cool the biscuits on a rack.

Icing.
Carefully mix the sugar and water. Preferable a drop at a time, to form a smooth paste.
Stir in food coloring.
Using a knife or a piping bag, spread the icing onto the biscuits and sprinkle any glitter
or sugar decoration you like.
Let icing harden and dry completely before storing in air tight containers.

Good luck!

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