Chocolate Brownie Cookie

The baking spirit is now on!
Our another very ugly but yummy creation :D

 

Ingredients for Chocolate Brownie Cookies

• 1 cup (180g) dark chocolate chips
• 5 tablespoons (75g) butter, softened
• 1 2/3 cups (200g) plain all purpose (plain) flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 large eggs
• 3/4 cup (150g) sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract (essence)
• 1/2 cup (75g) confectioners' (icing) sugar

Method for Chocolate Brownie Cookies

1. Melt the chocolate and butter in a double boiler over barely simmering water or in a microwave until smooth. Let cool a little.
2. Combine the flour, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl.
3. Beat the eggs and sugar in a large bowl with an electric mixer on high speed until pale and thick, 3-4minutes.
4. With the mixer on low speed, beat in the chocolate mixture and vanilla, followed by the flour mixture. Cover the bowl and refrigerate for 1 hour.
5. Preheat oven to 175 degrees C. Butter a large baking sheet or line with parchment paper.
6. Put the confectioners' sugar in a small bowl. Shape the dough into 20cents balls and roll in the confectioners' sugar. Place on the prepared baking sheets and press down lightly with your hand to flatten (we did not press them lightly as we do not like the outcome of it, so we left them on the sheets in the form of a ball).
7. Bake for 9minutes, until just set around the edges. Rotate the sheets halfway through for even baking.
8. Let the cookies cool on the baking sheets until they harden a little, 2-3minutes. Transfer to racks and let cool completely.

Recipe adapted from book: Carla Barbi - Cookies Bars & Brownies

Total time spent preparing + baking + cleaning up: 3 hours
(the 1hour in the middle while waiting for the dough to set in refrigerator,  we baked banana muffins)

Made 1 large container of cookies :)

Cranberry Bliss Cookies

Hohoho! Merry Christmas to all! Christmas is here and we definitely did not forget to do our Christmas baking! We specially chose a recipe for this festive season and this was what we picked!

Ingredients for Cookies

• 3 cups flour (375g)
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
• 1 cup granulated sugar (250g)
• 1 cup packed brown sugar (200g)
• 2 eggs
• 2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1 cup white chocolate chips (175g)
• 1 cup dried cranberries (125g)

Ingredients for Frosting

• 1 (8 oz.) bar cream cheese, room temperature (225g) 
• 1/2 cup white chocolate chips, melted in the microwave or double-boiler (87.5g)
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 2 cups powdered sugar (250g)

Ingredients for Topping

• 1 cup dried cranberries, roughly chopped (125g)
• 1/4 cup white chocolate chips, melted in the microwave or double-boiler
  (we used much more than that cause Big Sis was really generous with her chocolate topping :P)

Method for Cookies

1. In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda and salt until well-blended. Set aside.
2. Using an an electric mixer on medium-high speed, beat the butter and sugars together until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes.
3. Add in vanilla extract and mix until incorporated.
4. Add in the eggs one at a time, beating in between to incorporate.
5. Reduce speed to low and slowly add in dry ingredients.
6. Increase the speed to medium, and continue beating until well-combined.
7. Fold in the white chocolate chips and cranberries, and mix until just-combined. (Do not overmix.)
8. Cover and refrigerate dough for at least 1 hour. 
9. Place dough by rounded tablespoon-fulls onto a baking sheet that has been prepared with parchment paper, at least 2.5-inches apart.
10. Bake for 10-12 minutes, or until the cookies are lightly golden around the edges.
11. Remove pan, and transfer the cookies to a cooling rack until cool.
12. Repeat with remaining dough until all cookies are baked.

Method for Frosting

*Wait until cookies reach room temperature before adding frosting and toppings.

1. Using an electric mixer on medium speed, beat together the cream cheese and melted white chocolate until combined. (**Be sure that your cream cheese REALLY is at room temperature before adding the white chocolate. Otherwise the chocolate could seize up.) 
2. Add in the vanilla and mix until combined. 
3. Reduce speed to low and add the powdered sugar. Mix until incorporated. 
4. Use a rubber spatula to scrape down the sides of the bowl, and beat once more for 1 minute on medium speed until the frosting is smooth. (You can add more powdered sugar for a thicker frosting.)
5. Spread the frosting on the cooled cookies. Then immediately sprinkle the frosted cookies with the chopped dried cranberries. 
6. Use a fork to drizzle on the frosting, swishing it back and forth over the cookies.
   
   Recipe adapted from: gimme some oven

The cookies are a success! Our cookies were not really the same as the pictures from the adapted recipe though, most probably cause of the brown sugar. Despite that, the cookies are really tasty! The recipe actually makes a lot of cookies and it took us hours to finish the whole baking process cause we could only bake three at a time (the cookies can really expand!), but we are very happy with them! (:

Mint Chocolate Cookies

It's been a loooooooooong time since the last time this place is being updated. Sorry for neglecting here ): The past few baking sessions had all been on mooncakes, mooncakes, mooncakes, and still, mooncakes. But! The last weekend, we tried something new! Oink had been asking for the recipe of the mint cookies that girl guides sell, and so lil' sis started looking for the recipes and we've decided to try this!

Ingredients for the cookies

• 8 ounces butter (~227g)
• 1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (~118g)
• 1 cup powdered sugar (~125g)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• ¾ teaspoon salt
• 1 ½ cups all purpose flour(~187.5g)

Ingredients for peppermint chocolate coating

•  10 ounces semi-sweet baking chocolate (~283g)
•  1 ½ teaspoon peppermint extract

Method

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees (~175°C)
2. Cream butter until light and fluffy, then add the powdered sugar and mix until combined. Stir in the salt, vanilla and cocoa powder. Mix until the cocoa powder is integrated and the batter resembles a thick frosting. Add the flour and mix just until the flour is combined, making sure to not over mix.
3. Form dough into a ball. Knead a few times to bring together, then flatten into a disk between half an inch and one inch thick, cover in plastic wrap then place in freezer for 15 minutes.
4. Remove dough from the freezer and roll it out really thin on a floured surface, about 1/8-inch. Cut cookies using 1 1/2-inch cutter.
5. *Place cookies on a baking sheet and bake for 10 minutes. Remove the cookies from the oven and allow them to cool completely on a wire rack. While the cookies bake, make the peppermint coating. Chop the baking chocolate into very small, thin pieces. Place in a glass measuring cup or similar container and microwave in short 15-20 second bursts. Stir in the peppermint extract.
6. **Gently drop the cookies, one at a time, into the coating. Turn to coat entirely, then lift the cookie out of the chocolate with the fork and bang the fork on the side of the pan until the extra coating drips off. Place on a parchment or plastic wrap-lined baking sheet, and repeat for the rest of the cookies. Place the cookies in the refrigerator or freezer to set.
   
   *We used a double boiler to melt the chocolate instead of microwaving it.
   **The chocolate that we used for the coating isn't able to melt to a state such that it will drip. Hence, instead of dropping the cookies into the chocolate to coat it completely, we spread the chocolate on top of the cookies.
   
   Recipe adapted from: The view from Great Island

The cookies were a huge success!  We used lesser chocolate for the coating when we first baked it (cause lil' sis took the wrong measurement), and the taste (as well as smell) of the peppermint was overpowering. The next day, we coated another layer of chocolate (without the peppermint essence) and the taste was perfect. This is definitely going to be something that we will always want to make (like the banana muffins haha!)!

Kueh Bangkit - 3rd Time

We made another batch of Kueh Bangkit requested by our grandmother.
Batch 1 was successful but Batch 2 turn out to be not crispy. My father suggested to reheat the Batch 2 Kueh Bangkit and it really works. Now the it is very crispy and nice to eat. Yeah!! Now both batches are successful.

2 Batches of Kueh Bangkit 

Batch 1

• 150g tapioca flour
• 1 tsp of pandan essence
• 40g margarine
• 120g icing sugar
• 1 egg yolk
• 125ml coconut milk

Batch 2 

• 150g tapioca flour
• 1 tsp of pandan essence
• 30g margarine
• 140g icing sugar
• 1 egg yolk
• 125ml coconut milk

Method

1. Place a paper towel on a microwave safed bowl, add the tapioca flour and microwave for 1 minute. Set aside and let it cool. Microwave extra tapioca flour to flour the surface and kneading purpose. Fill the microwave safed bowl to about 1/3 or 1/2 each time. (If you do not have microwave, you can fry the flour)
2. Sift tapioca flour and icing sugar in a big bowl. 
3. Beat the butter and egg 
4. Add in the flour, icing sugar and coconut milk
5. Knead until the dough is pliable. (If the dough is wet or soft, add more tapioca flour, 1 Tbp. at a time and knead until it becomes a harder dough. Likewise, if it's too dry, add more coconut milk).
6. Roll dough on a floured table to about 3mm thickness. 
7. Use cookie cutters to cut the dough 
8. Bake on lined tray in preheated oven at about 150°C for about 10 to 15 mins depending on the thickness of the dough. (It will puff when baked)
9. Remove to cool completely before storing.

Note:

Make sure the dough is not too wet, if it can't hold the shape. When you rolled it out and cut it with a cookie cutter and placed it on the baking tray, the shape disappeared before your eyes. If this happen, add a little more tapioca flour and knead it again. But if the shape hold, you are fine to go.

Troubleshoot:
If cookie turns out to be soft and not crispy, can try reheat them again.

Recipe adapted from: Little Corner of Mine

Kueh Bangkit!! - 2nd Attempt

Kueh Bangkit!!
This time the kuah bangkit is more crispy and taste better than previous one. And the dough is not as cracky and is easier to cut.

Ingredients

• 375g tapioca flour
• 1 tsp of pandan essence
• 30g margarine
• 160g icing sugar
• 1 egg yolk
• 150ml coconut milk
  

Method

1. Place a paper towel on a microwave safed bowl, add the tapioca flour and microwave for 1 minute. Set aside and let it cool. Microwave extra tapioca flour to flour the surface and kneading purpose. Fill the microwave safed bowl to about 1/3 or 1/2 each time. (If you do not have microwave, you can fry the flour)
2. Sift tapioca flour and icing sugar in a big bowl. 
3. Add melted butter, yolk & coconut milk. 
4. Knead until the dough is pliable. (If the dough is wet or soft, add more tapioca flour, 1 Tbp. at a time and knead until it becomes a harder dough. Likewise, if it's too dry, add more coconut milk).
5. Roll dough on a floured table to about 3mm thickness. 
6. Use cookie cutters to cut the dough 
7. Bake on lined tray in preheated oven at about 150°C for about 10 to 15 mins depending on the thickness of the dough. (It will puff when baked)
8. Remove to cool completely before storing.

Note:

Make sure the dough is not too wet, if it can't hold the shape. When you rolled it out and cut it with a cookie cutter and placed it on the baking tray, the shape disappeared before your eyes. If this happen, add a little more tapioca flour and knead it again. But if the shape hold, you are fine to go.

Recipe adapted from: Little Corner of Mine

 

Kueh Bangkit

Kueh Bangkit!!
As the Japanese cheesecake needs to baked for 1hour 10min, we used that baking time to prepare kueh bangkit. Melt in the mouth cookies. Yummy!!!

Ingredients

• 225g tapioca flour
• 1 tsp of pandan essence
• 30g margarine
• 65g icing sugar
• 1 egg yolk
• 75ml – 90ml coconut milk
  

Method

1. Place a paper towel on a microwave safed bowl, add the tapioca flour and microwave for 1 minute. Set aside and let it cool. Microwave extra tapioca flour to flour the surface and kneading purpose. Fill the microwave safed bowl to about 1/3 or 1/2 each time. (If you do not have microwave, you can fry the flour)
2. Sift the tapioca flour and icing sugar in a big bowl
3. Cream margarine with sugar and yolk till sugar dissolves.
4. Add in 75ml coconut milk and mix well.
5. Add flour to mix till a non-sticky dough is formed. (If the dough is wet or soft, add more tapioca flour, 1 Tbp. at a time and knead until it becomes a harder dough. If it is too dry, add more coconut milk, 1 tsp at a time)
6. Leave dough to rest covered with a damp cloth.(Dough is slightly cracky)
7. Take a quarter of the dough and roll dough on a floured table to about 3mm thickness. 
8. Use cookie cutters to cut the dough 
9. Bake on lined tray in preheated oven at about 150°C for about 10 to 15 mins depending on the thickness of the dough. (It will puff when baked)
10. Remove to cool completely before storing.

Note:

Make sure the dough is not too wet, if it can't hold the shape. When you rolled it out and cut it with a cookie cutter and placed it on the baking tray, the shape disappeared before your eyes. If this happen, add a little more tapioca flour and knead it again. But if the shape hold, you are fine to go.

Recipe adapted from: Lily's Wai Sek Hong

 

Egg White Cookies (Forgotten Cookies) - Failed

Our very first failure from the new oven.

It was a impromptu decision to use the remaining 4 eggs white that was left over after the making of the pineapple tarts. We just didn't want to waste the egg whites, so we went to google for any recipe that uses egg white and chanced upon this recipe that uses all the ingredients we had in our house.

Sadly, we didn't read it more than once and started preparing everything until after the folding of the chocolate chips then we realised that the whole method of baking this cookie seems really strange and dubious.

Alot alot alot of our chocolates were wasted for this.
But is a good lesson learnt, always read more than once and find other similar recipes to compare and improvise accordingly.

Ingredients 

• 4 egg whites 
• 4/3 custard sugar 
• 340g. chocolate chips

Method

1. Preheat oven to 200°C.
2. Beat egg whites until stiff. 
3. Gradually add sugar. Beat until stiff. 
4. Add chocolate.
5. Drop by spoonfuls on greased cookie sheet. 
6. Turn oven off and place cookies in. Leave oven unopened for 2 hours or overnight.

Recipe adapted from: Cooks.com

Failed!! ╥﹏╥

Golden Pillow Pineapple Tarts

Pineapple Tarts for CNY - our First Attempt!!
After christmas, followed by new year and soon it will be chinese new year. 23 days to be exact.
It is time to start trying out some of our favourite cny goodies that we were craving for the past 1year.

We always remember how yummy it is to eat this pillow type pineapple tarts that we received from our grandmother every year during cny period. They always taste so yummy and addictive, but the waiting of the arrival of the tarts is a torture! Oink will be the one that keeps asking when will we get it or questioning if there will be any for this year!

We always thought our grandmother made them herself until last year then we realised it's actually bought from somewhere (i can't remember and donno where). Moreover, our dad prefers the chinese or local kind of pastry than the ang moh type. hahaha :)
So this sets us on to the making of our all time favourite chinese new year pineapple tarts!

The whole baking process took us really long, almost 5 hours even though we didnt have to make the pineapple fillings. Thank god we bought the pre-made fillings, if not we really dont need to sleep for that night already. The toughest part will be the rolling of pineapple jam, keeping them moist and wrapping them with the dough. Once you get the hang of it, it will be faster and easier though. Just have to find the way that suits you best.

Our pineapple tarts were all slightly cracked (therefore, please do not worry if yours cracked too) but they tasted really delicious and melts in the mouth!

From this baking experience, we finally solved the issue of inconsistent heating of our oven.
Through the past baking, we noticed that the right side of the oven bakes faster than the left and we thought we could do nothing about it. And because we got really bad experience from our ex-oven, we really thought this new one is super alot better already and we could make do with that little flaw it had. But all thanks to our dad for noticing the blowing of the fan inside! We turned the fan off and the heating became consistent through out! Yayyyyy~~!! The feel of chinese new year is early this year with our precious pineapple tarts sitting on our coffee table in the living room.

Ingredients (for about 70)

•     220g unsalted butter, at room temperature
•     1 tsp pure vanilla extract
•     2 egg yolks
•     375g plain flour
•     2 tbsp corn flour
•     1/4 tsp salt
•     50g icing sugar
•     1 egg yolk, for egg wash
•     600g pineapple paste (Bake King)

Method

1. With an electric mixer, beat butter till light in color and fluffy
2. Add in the vanilla essence to the butter and mix well
3. Add in egg yolks slowly until well combined
4. Sieve in the plain flour, corn flour, salt and icing sugar slowly into the mixture
5. Mix the mixture with hand. Use hand to knead it for a few minutes until the dough comes together.
   Do not over-knead it.
6. Wrap the dough with cling wrap and chill in the fridge for about 30mins.
   (This will prevent the dough from spreading, and makes it easier to handle.)
7. Mean while, roll pineapple jam into small balls.
   (To prevent the ready-made jam from drying out during baking, roll the jam with wet hands. Wet your hands when they become dry after some rolling. Place the pineapple balls on a plate/tray filled with some water, just enough for the base of the balls to touch the water. This will allow the jam to soften and soak up some moisture.)
8. Remove dough from fridge.
   (To prevent dough from sticking, place a plastic sheet on the board.)
9. Roll the dough into small rounds. Flatten the rounds and use it to cover the prepared pineapple filling.
10. Brush the unbaked rolls with egg wash.
11. Bake at the middle rack in a preheated oven at 180°C for 10 to 15 minutes or till golden brown.
12. Leave to cool on baking tray for a few minutes before transferring to wire rack. Let cool before storing in air-tight containers.

Note: Please bake the rolls as soon as possible.

Recipe adapted from: Fresh from the Oven and Happy Home Baking

Success!! ◕ ‿ ◕

Chocolate Chip Cookies (SemiSweet)

Remake of the chocolate chips cookies with Hershey chocolate chips instead as we realised the previous chocolate chips we used was really too big and resulted our huge looking cookies. We prefer bite sized cookies and therefore, here we go. =D

Ingredients

• 115g butter, softened
• 115g caster sugar
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 175g plain flour
• 175g Semi sweet chocolate chips (Hershey)

Method

1. Preheat oven to 180°C. Line baking trays with baking paper.
2. With a electric mixer, cream butter and sugar in a mixing bowl until the mixture turns pale and fluffy.
3. Beat in the egg gradually. Mix well after each addition. 
4. Add in vanilla extract, mix well.
5. Sift the flour over the mixture, fold in with a spatula. Fold in the chocolate chips.
6. Drop tablespoonfuls of the cookie dough onto the prepared baking tray. Leave some space between the cookies to allow for spreading. Flatten each cookie dough slightly with the back of a fork, keeping the shape as even as possible.
7. Bake for 10 mins or until golden. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Recipe adapted from: Happy Home Baking

Success!! ◕ ‿ ◕

Melting Moments Cookie

We thought this is almost close to kueh bangkit but not white only. hahahaha
Our 2nd time baking (excluding the very very first time where we bought pre-mixed brownie pack to try out the oven), another easy to follow recipe that gives us very good results.
The only difficult part here is the cutting of the cookie with our cookie cutter that we bought ages ago. We really got no idea how to use it even after reading the manual for a thousand times. Therefore, every flower cookie was scooped out from the cutter mould carefully using a spoon instead.

We were very pleased with the way it turns out, the nice colours, beautiful shape and not so sweet overall. A healthier choice? LOL
Cookies are all unhealthy but addictive.............. =P


Ingredients

• 175g unsalted butter, softened at room temperature
• 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 175g plain flour
• 40g cornflour 
• 40g icing sugar
• Hundred and Thousand for Decoration

Method

1. With an electric mixer, cream butter and icing sugar together until pale and fluffy. 
2. Add the vanilla extra and beat for a few seconds.
3. Sieve the flour and cornflour together over the butter mixture and mix until smooth.
4. Spoon the mixture into the cookie cutter (lever) on a baking tray lined with baking paper. Space the shapes well apart.
5. Bake the cookies in preheated oven at 180°C for 12 minutes or until they are a pale golden colour. Leave for a few minutes on the baking tray to firm up slightly before transferring to wire rack to cook. 

Recipe adapted from: Happy Home Baking

Success!! ◕ ‿ ◕

Chocolate Chip Cookies (Bitter Sweet)

Our first time baking from scratch. =)
Countless trial run of baking 2 cookies at a time to set the oven to the right temperature and direction of heating. Everything turned out pretty good and cookies received lots of compliments too. Happy~~!!


Ingredient

• 115g butter, softened
• 115g caster sugar
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 175g plain flour
• 175g Bittersweet chocolate chips

Method

1. Preheat oven to 180°C. Line baking trays with baking paper.
2. With a electric mixer, cream butter and sugar in a mixing bowl until the mixture turns pale and fluffy.
3. Beat in the egg gradually. Mix well after each addition. 
4. Add in vanilla extract, mix well.
5. Sift the flour over the mixture, fold in with a spatula. Fold in the chocolate chips.
6. Drop tablespoonfuls of the cookie dough onto the prepared baking tray. Leave some space between the cookies to allow for spreading. Flatten each cookie dough slightly with the back of a fork, keeping the shape as even as possible.
7. Bake for 10 mins or until golden. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Recipe adapted from: Happy Home Baking

Success!! ◕ ‿ ◕