Dark Chocolate Chip Cookie

I doubt it is because of the rain that I am feeling cold in my own home.  The second half of the year is beginning to feel like autumn!

Both hubby and I are homebody people.  We dislike going to the malls.  In fact, we like to rot at home being a couch potatoes catching up on CSI, Criminal Minds and AFC.

One trailer from AFC was The Best Thing I Ever that Rocco DiSpirito was raving on and on about was the Dark Chocolate Chip Cookies from a reputable bakery in NY.  From the way the celebrity described it.  It will be a mistake not to eat it.

Perhaps you have read about my unpleasant trip to NY two years ago. Was stuck in a blizzard and didn't really have a chance to explore New York fully.  The only day trip that we had ended up really nasty that left me with a bad impression of New Yorkers and the place. 

Then again, I have many friends who enjoyed it and thus I would definitely want to go back again, perhaps not in Winter season.  Unfortunately hubby has far more interesting destination in mind and want to venture those in future. So I guess I won't have much chance going back again.

Since I won’t have a chance in this city in the near future, I decided to try my luck on the cyberworld and guess what I found.  A copycat recipe as what the author mentioned.   

These cookies came out just in time for son to come home from his Confirmation Camp. 

Thanks My Baking Addiction, my chocolate fans at home all gave a double thumbs up for it!  They couldn't resist biting it while still warm. 



What I find is that when eaten hot, it is still crispy on the outside and chewy on the inside.  The texture then changed after it is completely cooled so I am not really sure this is the closest to the original.  If you like intense chocolate cookies, these are definitely your type of tea.

Nevertheless, now I must find somewhere to hide it before it is all gone before the weekend ended.

What you need:

240g cold butter
200g castor sugar
2 eggs
45g dark cocoa powder
329g plain flour
1/4 tsp coarse salt
1 tsp baking powder
442g semi sweet chocolate chip

Method:

Cream butter and sugar till light and fluffy.

Add in egg one at a time.

Mixed in the cocoa powder till well combined

Sift in plain flour, baking powder and salt.  Mixed to form a dough.

Add in chocolate chip and mixed thoroughly.

Using a big ice cream scoop, scoop the dough and space them 2 - 3 " apart.

Baked at 180 deg for 10 - 15 mins.

Coffee and Ricotta Marbled Cake

I have known VZ many years ago during my party days.  Time seems to stand still for her as she still looks bloody gorgeous after all these years!  God is definitely very very kind to her.  In fact, she never age at all.

Love that beautiful smile and bubbly personality of hers that never failed to brighten up my day with her around.

The last when she was in town, we didn't have a chance to meet up but I am glad that this time round, we did.

Since she has a bottomless tummy, this spread is prepared specially for her.

An interesting recipe that I found on a book that I loaned from the library, I immediately taken to it as I have everything on hand this week.  Very interesting baking method as well.  Glad that VZ likes this Coffee and Ricotta Marbled cake.

The perks of having friends that bake, I can always tap on to their inspiration.  Like this The Best Ever Chocolate Chip Cookie that GL from Flour Away posted on her facebook.  Haiz.... every now and then, someone will proclaim that they found the best ever chocolate chip cookie.  For me, it is up to you to judge whether this is the final "The best ever chocolate chip cookie" or not.

Let's say, my son is going to go crazy over these again as he loves cookies with chocolate chip.

Another recipe from GL's inspiration was the Thick Chewy Oatmeal Cookies.  This one is me that will go crazy with as I always love such combination.  I omitted the nuts as my girl doesn't like it.  

Preparing these two recipes also created a great bonding moments with my girl.  She is now getting quite an expert in weighing ingredients out and identifying them as well.  She even can tell the difference between baking powder and baking soda and not add them blindly to the flour.

Though I know that ZY has sweet tooth but just in case, her taste bud changed for the day, I added in a savoury one.  Surprisingly, she also liked this Cheddar Cheese with Dill Muffin.  

Personally I felt I should have added either more cheese or salt to it.  Overall texture is still soft though.  

I had an awesome afternoon with ZY.  I wish her success in her new job as well as fulfilling her dream.  Hugs to you my dear friend and see you soon.

Despite a wonderful day, I also experienced a heart ache.  I chipped my induction cooker! Don't ask me how it happened for I am clueless but as helper was cleaning up, she wiped off that chip from the cooker.  Is it a quality issue with this brand?

Then I spent whatever time I had today to troubleshoot a wireless problem with my computer.  After getting a sore back, I finally managed to get it up and running again for girl to complete her e learning for the day.

So overall, today is still good.  Trying not to think of my chipped induction cooker though ... ouch.

Source: Dan Lepard

Coffee and Ricotta Marbled Cake 

What you need:

2 tbsp ground coffee
125g unsalted butter, softened
200g caster sugar
200g plain flour
150g ricotta
2 large eggs
2½ tsp baking powder
25ml Marsala or dark rum

Method:

Line the base and sides of a 17cm long loaf tin or similar with non-stick baking paper and heat the oven to 180 ºC.

Put the coffee in a cup, stir in 25ml of boiling water and leave to infuse for 10 minutes.

Beat the butter and sugar until soft and light, then measure the flour into a small bowl, spoon about a quarter in with the butter mixture and beat until smooth.

Beat in the ricotta, then the eggs, one at a time.

Sift in the baking powder and the remaining flour, and beat lightly.

Divide the mixture in half and beat the coffee through one half and the Marsala through the other.

Spoon the mixture in alternate blobs into the tin, tap the tin firmly on the worktop to knock out any air bubbles, swirl the batter gently with a skewer and bake for 50-60 minutes.

********************

Source: Savoury Sweet Life

The BEST Ever Chocolate Chip Cookies

Yield : 48 pcs

What you need:

230g salted butter, softened

100g sugar

280g brown sugar

2 eggs

2 tsp vanilla extract

347g plain flour

¾ tsp salt

1 tsp baking soda

1½ tsp baking powder

340g semi-sweet chocolate chips

Method:

Preheat oven to 180ºC.  Lined baking sheet.

Cream butter, sugar, and brown sugar until it is nice and fluffy.

Add both eggs and vanilla and beat for an additional 2 minutes.

Sift baking soda, baking powder, salt, and flour and add into cookie batter.  Beat till fully incorporated.

Finally add chocolate chips until well distributed. The cookie batter should be somewhat thick.

Drop about 2 tablespoons of dough or use a medium cookie scoop and plop the batter onto a baking sheet.

Bake for 12-14 minutes until the edges are nice and golden brown.

Remove from heat and allow the cookies to stay on the cookie sheet for an additional 2 minutes.

Transfer to cooling rack to cool further.

Store in airtight container.

*******************************

Source: Smitten Kitchen

Thick Chewy Oatmeal Cookies

Yield : 24 pcs

What you need:

115g butter, softened
125g light brown sugar, packed
1 large egg
½ tsp vanilla extract
95g plain flour
½ tsp baking soda
½ tsp ground cinnamon
¼ tsp salt

120g rolled oats
120g raisins
65g walnuts, chopped (optional)

Method:

Preheat oven to 175°C.

In a large bowl, cream together the butter, brown sugar, egg and vanilla until smooth. 

In a separate bowl, whisk the flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt together. Stir this into the butter/sugar mixture.

Stir in the oats, raisins and walnuts, if using them.

Chill the dough and then scoop it onto a sheet.

Bake them for 10 to 12 minutes.  

Let them sit on the hot baking sheet for five minutes before transferring them to a rack to cool.

*********************

Cheddar Cheese Muffins

What you need:

250g plain flour
1 tbsp castor sugar
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 egg
1 cup milk
60g salted butter, melted
1 tbsp chopped fresh dill
200g Cheddar cheese,cut small cube

Method

Preheat oven to 190 deg.  Grease a muffin tray.

Stir and toss the flour, sugar, baking powder and baking soda.  Set aside.

Whisk together the egg, milk, melted butter and herb until smooth.

Add in cheese and whisk till mixed well.  

Add to the dry ingredients and stir just till blended.

Scoop into tray till 3/4 and bake for 20 mins or till golden brown.

Cool in tin for a 3 mins and remove .

Serve with either butter or cream.

Oatmeal Raisin Cookie

For those who sent me emails, smses, blog comments and FB comments, I am well and okay. Many thanks for your concern.
 
Life will be back to a routine after this weekend. Besides the funeral, this school holiday was good. At the beginning of the week, hubby took half a day off to take us to the Garden by the Bay. Actually we were there on Sunday but the queue to purchase tickets to the two domes, were terribly long so we just walked round the garden and had our dinner there.
 
I wish the signs of different areas are clearer though, and more write up on each location or plants.  Guess there is still room for improvement.
 
When we were back again on Tuesday, we visited the two domes, it was not so crowded and we enjoyed ourselves tremendously.   Being air conditioned helps a lot.  I particularly love the flower dome.  How I wish it was my garden. 
 
So school reopening on Monday, I have to get more snacks ready for the kids. Though I love Oreo but seeing how my son whacked those cookies really scares me. Just imagine the amount of sugar intake he pumped into his body on a daily basis. I decided to bake some healthier choices for him.
 
In fact, I actually baked a batch of chocolate chip cookies to munch while we were at the wake but my son nearly ate the whole jar of cookies by himself.   Pretty scary, isn’t it?
 
I will baked another batch soon as I have gotten really good reviews for it.
In the meantime, here is a much healthier choice, Oatmeal Raisin Cookies to munch on.

With my last successful attempt on Snowskin Champagne Truffle mooncakes last year.  

This year I am focusing more on that.   There are also more variety of truffles available and I am indeed a happy girl.

I also wanted to attempt the plain piglet as my sisters and kids love it.

Wish me luck and have a Happy Weekend.

I am submitting this to Dishes starting with O hosted by Alila's Kitchen.

Source: Flour 

What you need:

228g unsalted butter, room temp

100g castor sugar

220g light brown sugar

2 eggs

245g plain flour

175g rolled oats

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

1/4 tsp nutmeg powder

1/4 tsp cinnamon powder

240g raisins

Method

Cream butter and sugars together till creamy.

Beat in the eggs and continue to beat till incorporated.

Stir flour, oats, baking soda, salt, nutmeg and cinnamon together.  

Add raisins to the flour mixture.

Next add the flour mixture to the creamed butter and mixed till well incorporated.

Let the dough rest overnight in the fridge.

Heat oven to 180 deg.

Scoop dough with a large ice cream scoop and place them 3 cm apart.  Flatten with either a spoon or your palm.

Bake for 20 - 22 mins.  Do not over bake to retain chewiness.

Brownie Scone

Its sure been quite a while since I join baking event.  The theme for this Bake Along #27 hosted by Lena, Joyce and Zoe is scones. 

This is my first time. I hope I can find time to continue with this group fun. It is indeed very motivating to see so many interesting recipe churned out from this event.


It is a good way to force me to go through my mini library and identify an interesting recipe to share. Over the years, besides my fondant cake books, I have accumulated so many cook and bake books.  There are so many that I only browsed and salivated on the pictures rather than actual trying out the recipe.


Thus today, I try out Brownie Scones as the author indicated that this is her favourite recipe in this book. 


Guess I really need to pick up my baking habit for I realised that I now fumble. Yesterday's butter cake, it took me longer than usual to get ready. Today, I missed out the chocolate chip and lose thoughts while weighing the sugar, ended a little heavy handed.  Luckily it wasn't unedibily (is there such a word) sweet.


Initially I was a little worried that I might have over mixed as I had a little trouble mixing in the melted chocolate (thicken). You see, scones are very sensitive, the more you handled the less flaky it becomes. Except that I should not have made it thinner, thankfully, all is well.


My family enjoyed it. 

Source: Baking Unplugged

What you need:

112g unsweetened chocolate, chopped
150g plain flour
133g cake flour
138g castor sugar
24g cocoa powder
10g baking powder
1/4 + 1/8 tsp salt
1 large egg
63g + 2 tbsp heavy whipping cream
2 tsp molasses (i use honey)
1 tsp vanilla extract
100g cold unsalted butter
98g bitter sweet chocolate, finely chopped (I forgotten to add this)
sugar for sprinkling (I omitted)


Method

Melt the unsweetened chocolate over a double boiler. Set aside.

Whisk together flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt.

Whisk egg, 63g heavy whipping cream, molasses and vanilla.  Set aside.

With a pastry cuter, cut cold butter into flour till it becomes fine crumb.

Drizzle egg mixture into flour and follow by melted chocolate.  

Add in bitter sweet chocolate.

Using a fork, slowly bring everything together.  Do not over mixed. 
With floured hands, gently edge them into the shape you prefers.  Approx 1 1/2" high.  

Using a knife, cut into squares or triangles.  Place them at least 1" apart on the baking tray.

Brush with the 2 tbsp of heavy whipping cream and sprinkle sugar.

Bake for 14 - 16 mins or until the sides look just set.

Cool on rack till firm enough to handle.

Transfer to cooling rack.

Chocolate Chip Cookie

Though this year, we are not having Christmas celebration as my house is currently in a mess, I still prepare Christmas presents for close friends and family members. It is harder and harder to think of a nice gift for them and I seems so lost these days to shop. Lack of practise maybe. I wish they have the same hobby as me and that will make my life simple. hahahah.

Perhaps next year, I will just bake for single one instead or like Mrs Pamela who gives tooth brush. hahaha

Enough said, I am at a lost what to get for my young adult nephew who is very picky. So I decided to bake chocolate chip cookies for him instead. Well at least he can munch on it on his way to HK.



I am glad that my family loves these. The salt actually gives this simple Chocolate Chip Cookie a different dimension.

Definitely a keeper!

Source: The Cookbook chronicles

What you need:

300g unsalted butter, at room temp.
52g granulated sugar
1/2 cup demerara sugar (light brown sugar is fine too)
404g packed, dark brown sugar
2 large eggs
2½ tsp vanilla extract
244g flour
83g 1 tbsp bread flour
1 tsp baking soda
¼ tsp baking powder
1½ kosher salt (not table salt) + fleur de sel / vanilla salt for sprinkling over cookie dough
504g 70% bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped

Method

Preheat the oven to 350ºC.

In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugars on medium speed until fluffy, about 2 minutes.

Add the eggs one at a time, and beat well after each addition.

Add the vanilla extract, the flours, the baking soda, baking powder, and salt. On low speed, beat the mixture until the dry ingredients are well-incorporated, about 1 minute.

Stir in the chopped chocolate.

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Using a small ice cream scoop, scoop the dough and place it in the tray. Leaving space for expansion as this will melt into a thin cookie.

Dust the tops of each ball of dough with a tiny bit of fleur de sel or vanilla salt.

Bake for 12 – 13 mins (Do not bake these on the bottom rack in the oven–the high proportion of brown sugar will cause the bottoms to darken too much.) (as I wanted it to crisp more, I baked longer).

At this time, the cookies should have taken on a golden brown color all around the edge, but still look very soft in the center–like hot cookie dough.

Remove the tray from the oven, and allow the cookies to cool directly on the tray for 10 minutes before eating.

Almost famous Amos cookie (1)

My son had been on a strict diet for the last one month as he was preparing for his Taekwondo competition.

From this experience, we can see how determine he was especially when we saw him resisting all his favourite food. I am actually quite surprised by his self control.

After two years break, because of the PSLE as well as adapting to Secondary school life, we are really pleased that he done us proud with a Gold Medal for this competition.



While I was shopping for my moon cake supplies, I finally remember to buy my coffee oil so I better put it to good use.

My hubby and son love chewy chocolate chip cookies whereas my girl favours the crunchy type.

Most of the time, I will go for the chewy ones as mommy, the baker doesn’t have strong teeth to take those crunch.

To make up, I also tried out a new recipe, Almost famous Amos cookie (1) that was shared some time back by S in a forum and had been in my KIV file for a longest time.

What you need:

250g salted butter,softened
200g light brown sugar
¼ tsp salt
½ tsp coffee oil
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
¼ cup oats, processed to bits in a chopper
¼ cup ground almonds
½ cup of your favourite nuts,chopped finely (optional)
1 pack of Nestle Tollhouse semi-sweet chocolate chips OR chocolate chunks
300g self-raising flour

Method:

Infused the beaten egg with vanilla and coffee oil overnight in the fridge.  Bring to room temperature before baking.

Preheat oven to 160°C.

Beat soften butter, sugar and the salt to combine.  

Beat in the egg mixture and stir in the processed oats, ground almonds and 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 on rack and store it in an airtight container.  Flavour develop after a day or two.

I also made snow skin with durian lotus paste moon cakes as well as snow skin cranberries lotus paste moon cakes for him as a make up for he didn't touch any of those that I made the other weeks. He only watched at the side lines, while we ate. Cruel aren’t we?



Good job my boy!

A pity that the moon though is round wasn’t really bright as at this moment, there is a heavy haze blanketing Singapore. So no picture folks but I hope to capture this beauty next year.

Enough said, let me wish everyone 中秋节快乐.

Now I better focus on the forthcoming exam, thinking about it already make me stress.

Cornflake cookie, Pineapple tart

This might be my final round in making Lunar New Year goodies. Usually, I don't have many goodies stock up in my house unless I have an open during the festive season.

For the past two years, it is held at my parents' place. Another big annual gathering will be with my college classmates. Usually, it is held in one of the boys' home. This year, it is our turn to host (as they have yet to come by this "old" place) and thus, I needed to prepare more to welcome my guests.

So besides those that I baked for mommy dearest, I think I need to bake some more.

Friends who came to know about my frustration with pineapple tart making the other day were really sweet. They started to share with me their favourites. Though time will not permit me to try all for this Lunar New Year but I am definitely going to experiment with it all. Thanks so much for sharing with me my dear friends.

First recipe testing out today is from JC. JC and I shared the same passion for food and knitting. She is also a good knitter and had been my teacher when I was knitting shawls for my brother and his family. I wish we can spend more time together but with our kids’ schedules, an opportunity is rare. I missed the time we chat and exchange knowledge while waiting for our sons to finish school. This recipe is her favourite and the dough is very easy to handle and I was able to churn out a big batch.

The texture does not melt in the mouth but it has this buttery loose crumbs.



As I have a bag of cornflakes left, I decided to make a batch of Cornflakes cookies as well.



Just went to see a sinseh and she diagnosed me with a stomach problem. No wonder I don’t feel strong because my digestion was not functioning! Let’s hope with this medication, I will get my strength back in time for the Lunar New Year.

Cornflake cookies
Recipe adapted from Desserts for the beginners.

What you need:

65g unsalted butter
65g plain flour
45g castor sugar
1 small egg
1/2 tsp baking powder
20g raisins
30g chocolate chips
20g nuts (I omitted)
1 tsp lemon zest
40g cornflake

Method

Preheat oven 180. Line pan.

Sift flour and baking powder.

Whisk butter and sugar till light and fluff.

Add in 1/3 egg, mix well and add in the remaining in two separate portions. Mix well.

Add in flour and blend.

Add in raisins, chocolate and nuts. mix well.

Coat spoonful of dough with crushed cornflakes. Space them 2cm apart.

Bake for 15 mins or till golden brown.

Note: I didn't coat with cornflake, instead I mixed it with the raisin and chocolate chip and place them into mini cupcake liner.

I am submitting this to Aspiring Bakers #3: My Favourite CNY Cookie (Jan 2011) hosted by J3sskitch3n.

Pineapple Tarts (not melt in the mouth but have loose crumbs)
Source: Mrs Leong

A:
565g flour
2 tsp baking powder

340 g butter, chilled

B:
2 tablespoons castor sugar
3 egg yolks
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
3 drops of yellow food colouring
1/2 teaspoon salt

8 tablespoon boiling water

Flour for dusting
Cloves

Glaze:
Beat 1 egg and 1 yolk with 2 drops of yellow food colouring

Method:

1. Sift A into a basin

2. Rub butter lightly into the flour with tips of fingers till mixture resembles breadcrumbs.

3. Beat B lightly in a bowl.

4. Pour egg mixture into the flour mixture. Add boiling water and mix with both hands to form a pastry dough.

5. Chill in the refrigerator for 1/2 hour.

Fried Green Pea Cookie

I think this will be my second last batch of cookie making. Till then, I will have to wait till 7th Jan for my cousin to come over to teach me how to bake her version of pineapple tarts which we all adore.

Initially I wanted to try Fried Green Pea Cookie which is so raved about that I just to try it. I love peas. I love it in practically everything.

For the fried version, I love it coated with wasabi. Yum. I might give up baking this. I waited for an hour for a baking supply shop to open as I don't really fancy going down there in the afternoon as it is hard to find a parking lot. Also I didn't want to go home and then out again just to pick up a bag of flour.

It was a mistake as I should have called them the day before. They are out of stock for this item. Then I went to a nearby supermarket to look for it and it too was out of stock.

Luckily I finally managed to find some in a supermarket. Phew .... not regrets getting out of the way just to make these. My friend, AL and all of us are so in love with this.

Definitely a keeper! Fried Green Pea Cookie rocks

Source : Alan Ooi

What you need:

130gm deep-fried green peas (milled) without coating
100gm icing sugar
1/4 tsp salt
150g plain flour
100g groundnut oil

Method

Preheat oven to 170 ˚C.

Sift icing sugar and plain flour into a bowl.

Add all other ingredients and mixed well except the groundnut oil.

Add in groundnut oil and mix to form a dough.

Roll dough in between plastic sheet and cut out cookies.

Bake for 15-20 mins till well-baked.

Cool on rack and store.

*************************
So stay focus..... Two years ago, my baby sister gave me a set of beautiful cookie press. I never really had a chance to use it because I already owned two sets.

One I bought it and the other set from my mom. With three set of cookie press, I seriously think I must make full use of them.



Heard about Dragon Cookies 龍餅 and I wonder how this taste like. Just nice to put my "new" toy into good use, if not, I am sure my sister won't be too happy.



Luckily I have the piping set, if not I think I will have to double the time to pipe these "dragons" out. Comparing to Kueh Bangkit, I like this more.

Verdict: Will definitely make these again. It has a melt in the mouth texture and not floury at all.

Only set back, it takes time to pipe them out.

What you need:

150g butter
150g icing sugar
2 egg yolks
1 egg white
1/2 tsp vanilla essence
350g corn flour
30g milk powder
60g plain flour
2 – 3 tbsp milk Red colouring, diluted (for the eye)

Method

Sift corn flour, milk powder and plain flour together. Set aside.

Beat butter, icing sugar, egg yolks, egg white and vanilla essence until creamy.

Then slowly stir in flours and mix well.

Add in 2 tbsp of milk and blend well. If the dough is still too dry, add another 1 tbsp.

Fill batter into piping bag with a star tip and cover the rest of the dough with a damp cloth over the bowl.

Pipe dough and dip a little red colouring to represent the “eye”.

Bake at 160 degree C for 15- 20 minutes.


*******************

I also wanted to try something new. I decided to use Bamboo Charcoal on my pineapple tart. Imagine a golden "nugget" amidst a black back drop. Perhaps black is my favourite colour. I think this will look awesome. Dynamic for the year of the Tiger. hehehe.

Unfortunately, my pineapple jam is not golden enough to really bring out the colours I have in mind. You like my Bamboo Charcoal Pineapple tart? mmm.... perhaps i need to give it a more auspicious name. Any suggestion?



Note:

Pardon the picture quality, the tart is black. I don't know why it turned out blue-ish. Okay enough for the day, I am tired.

Oops, I think I side tracked again. Now I have two additional cookies on my list. Maybe I will do the rest tomorrow.

St Clement's Drizzle cake, Chocolate Chip Maple Pecan Biscuits

Photo Album Missing


I am glad that this week I was able to relax a little as for the past two weeks, it sure been hectic. I am satisfied with my productivity and the most memorable moment was able to meet my school principal, Sister Elizabeth.

Though at 82 years old, she is in better health than I am. She seems taller to me then than now but her beautiful blue eyes remains.

We had such an enjoyable event despite a horrible jam that got us delayed in reaching our destination by an hour, all because of F1. The lovely bunch of girls just waited patiently for me to brave the jam to deliver our lovely principal to the dinner venue. The evening was simply great.

Though PSLE is just round the corner, I still wanted to bring both kids out for a special lunch as a Children's Day treat but because nerves were still raw inside me over what happened last night, I decided to leave son at home as the tutor was supposedly to come and "counsel" him. In the end, she called in sick.

When we were finally home, dear son came to apologize. I really hope he meant it and understand my harshness as my meant well intention. This is the final week that my dear son can “touched up” on those missing pointers for the PSLE. I am sure that he is looking forward to the end of it.

I just wish that I had a choice NOT to push him that hard. Since this year will be my son's last Children’s Day as he embarked onto Youth Day next year. I decided to bake a cake from Sweet and Simple Bake's challenge and some cookies with them instead.

A quiet celebration with them is better than nothing. We had an enjoyable evening, "dressing" up the St Clement's Drizzle cake aka cupcakes.

What is a better theme than these cuppies being decorated by the kids themselves. Aren't they lovely?





What you need:

175g caster (superfine) sugar
175g softened butter
Grated zest and juice of 1 large lemon
Grated zest and juice of 1 large orange
4 tablespoons milk
2 eggs
175g self-raising flour
3 tablespoons granulated sugar

Method

Preheat the oven to 180°C /fan 160oC/gas 4. Grease and line the base of 1 large (900g) or 2 small (450g) loaf tins.

Place the caster sugar, butter and zest of the lemon and orange in a bowl and beat together until pale and creamy.

Add the milk, and then beat in the eggs, one at a time, with a spoon of flour to prevent the mixture from curdling.

Mix in the remaining flour.

Spoon into the prepared tin/tins and level the surface flat.

Bake in the oven for about 45 minutes for a large cake or 30 minutes for the smaller cakes until they are golden and a skewer comes out clean when inserted into the centre of the cake.

While the cake is cooking, place the lemon and orange juice in a saucepan, bring to the boil and allow to reduce in quantity to about 3 tablespoons.

Leave to cool, and then stir in the granulated sugar so it just starts to dissolve.

As soon as the cake comes out of the oven, prick several times with a skewer, then slowly pour the lemon and orange sugar all over the top, letting it soak into the cake.

Leave to cool completely in the tin before turning out and cutting into slices to serve

***************************

They also helped with these Chocolate Chip Maple Pecan Biscuits. Little princess was turning them from round to heart shaped. What a sweet.



To all the kids out there, Happy Children's Day.

This phrase of your life is the best, enjoy it.

What you need:

175g unsalted butter, room temp
140g brown sugar
2 tbsp maple syrup
1 egg, light beaten
300g self raising flour
100g chocolate chips
100g pecan nuts, chopped

Method

Cream butter, maple syrup and sugar till creamy and light.

Add in egg and beat further till incorporated.

Put chocolate chips and pecan nuts into flour.

Fold in flour mixture and mixed till well combined

Shaped dough into a long log and chilled for 2 hours or more. Preheat oven to 200°C.

Lined cookie sheets.

Sliced them into 5mm thick and bake for 10 – 12 min or till golden brown.

Pineapple tarts with cloves and cornmeal cookies, chocolate chip cookie

Earlier on, I gave nearly all my cookies to my mom as this year, we are expecting the whole clan at their new place. Leaving so little for my family, I felt really bad and decided to have another go at the cookies.

I am also a sucker for a new recipe and especially for pineapple tart. LOLz. Even though the previous one was good, the curiosity to search for better ones overruled.

So here I am with last week's Sunday Times published recipe. Initially, I was really happy because the dough was so easy to handle (I didn't even need to chill it - perhaps this was the trick).

The disappointment came after, the final product lacks the taste. It has this "wet" and crumbly feel to it while handling and it sticks to your mouth. I ended having to wash it down with tea.

Now I am thinking about whether my dear family will eat these. Haiz what a waste for good quality butter.

I am going to publish this recipe so that next time, I can make a comparison with what works and what don't.



What you need:
Tart Base

250g butter, room temperature
1 tsp vanilla essence
1 egg yolk
440g plain flour
1 tbsp milk powder pineapple jam (I am not going to provide this)
1 egg, beaten for glazing

Method

Preheat oven to 165˚C.

Cream the butter with vanilla essence on medium speed for about 10 mins.

Add the egg yolk and continue mixing for 2 mins until well incorporated.

Sift flour and milk powder into the mixture. Mix on low speed for 2 mins before increasing to 3 mins to attain a coarse, crumbly texture forms.

Place the mixture into a large bowl and knead it for about 5 mins until a smooth dough is formed.

Set the dough to chill for 20 mins (cling wrapped it).

Remove dough and shape your tart as desired. (the author made closed face tart)

Brush egg wash and bake for about 15 mins or till tarts turn golden.

==============

Next on the list is a Cornmeal Cookies. I was taken in by the word as it sounded healthy. They also have raisins in it and I do love raisin. mmm....

This cookie has a crunchy texture and yet light. I used polenta but I think next round I will use a finer one. It has a nice aroma to it because of the lemon extract that I used.

Overall, I like this because it is different and it is good.

Do visit Angie's forum, she has many tried and tested recipes which work really well.

I recalled the Hokkaido Bread that she first posted. It was my first successful bread making dated back in 2006.

I was delighted with the result. Later on, it started a rave in Singapore blogs and had received many positive comments.



What you need:

110g butter
1 tsp baking powder
140g sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1 egg
110g plain flour
1 tsp lemon extract (use good quality ones)
1/2 cup raisins
65g cornmeal (fine)

Method:

Beat the butter and sugar till creamy.

Mix in the egg and lemon extract. Blend well.

In a separate bowl, combine cornmeal, baking powder, salt and flour.

Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture. Mix well.

Stir in the raisins.

Drop batter by teaspoons onto a greased cookie sheet

Baked at 190˚C for 10 - 12 mins until bottom of cookies is browned.

Cool cookies on the tray for a min before lifting them onto a cooling rack.

==============

Lastly, wanted something chocolatey for my chocoholic family. Chocolate Chip Cookie was shared by AK again.

I am sure my family will like it especially dear hubby who is a nuts lover.

This cookie is light and because of the walnuts give it a nice bite and aroma to it.



Learning experience: Another definite recipe to keep.

Now, let's see whether I have the stamina to bake cakes.

Chicken Curry bun, chocolate cheesecake brownie, Pan fried pork loin

I haven't really been into baking lately. Somehow I have so many things to do that baking seems to be my last "to do" list.

As much as each night I browses through my favourite forums and recipe books, I just cannot find strong motivation force. I kept telling myself that I should not let failure eat me up. So here I am, trying my third round of bread making. Really high time for me to go to the bookshop and get a decent bread making book now.

I was pretty excited when my Chicken Curry Bun turned out so beautifully from the oven. Besides having them nearly sticking to each other, I think I didn't do such a bad job in shaping them.

Initially my son refused to have a bite at it, after much coaxing and ensuring him that these are different from the last, he gingerly took a tiny bite.

Minutes later, he came back asking for more. Good sign? Have yet to see how it stays till tomorrow.

A slight disappointment was that my curry chicken filling wasn't well done at all. I don't know whether I got the wrong type of curry powder or not. I feel that it doesn't have that YUM factor.



What you need for the fillings

2 tbsp oil
2 onions, diced
2 med sized potatoes, cubes
240g chicken, cubes
2 tbsp curry powder
1 tsp salt a little soya sauce
a dash of pepper

Method

Season meat with curry powder

Heat oil and lightly brown onions.

Add potatoes with a little water and fry till soft. I prefer it a little mushy.

Put in seasoned meat and stir fry till cooked

Add in seasoning and fry till dry.

Remove and cool.

What you need for the dough

A

240g bread flour
60g all purpose flour
50g caster sugar
10g milk powder
2 tsp dry yeast
1/2 tsp bread improver

B
1/2 egg
150ml cold water

C
30g unsalted butter
5g salt
Egg wash
1 egg yolk, beaten with 1 tsp evaporated milk

Method

Mix (A) till well blended.

Add (B) to form a dough.

Add in (C) and knead until dough is elastic and smooth (approx 10 - 15 mins) Gather dough to form a ball and cover dough with cling wrap.

Place in the warmest area and let it rest for abt 50-60 mins or double in size.

Divide dough into portions of 50 or 60 gm each.

Shape into balls and leave it to rest for abt 10 mins.

Roll out dough and wrap with desired fillings.

Shape as required and let it proof on lined or greased baking tray for another 50-60 mins or until dough is double in size.

Egg wash dough.

Bake dough at 180-190C for abt 12 mins

***********************

I crave for a Chocolate Cheesecake Brownie and going through my huge stack of recipe clippings, I found this. I don't know where the source is from though. Nevertheless, these are really delicious.



What you need

185g butter, melted
¼ cup cocoa powder, sifted
100g castor sugar
2 eggs
1 cup all purpose flour, sifted

Cheesecake

285g cream cheese
30g castor sugar
2 eggs

Method

Preheat the oven to 160°C

Mix butter, cocoa, sugar, eggs and flour in a bowl till smooth.

To make the cheesecake, whisk the cream cheese, sugar and eggs till smooth.

Scoop a large spoonful of the chocolate batter into disposable souffles cups.

Place large spoonfuls of the cheesecake mixture on top of the chocolate mixture and another spoonful of the chocolate batter.

Bake for 20 - 25 mins or till set.

Cool on rack and remove paper cups.

***********************

Whipped up a simple dinner of Pan Fried Pork Loin aka Pork Chop.

This dish is really simple and my family love it.



Though I am not a fan of beancurd (tow kwa), the lady at the supermarket convinced me to get some home. I know my hubby loves these. What I had in mind was a Five Spice Pan Fried Tow Kwa.

I rememebered many years ago, I tasted something like this and it was really wonderful. I do not have the recipe but based on instinct, I just coated it with five spice powder and a little salt.

Anyone out there tried these before and care to share the recipe?



So much of pan fried, so Blanched Kailan with Oyster Sauce is a way to go. I love this method of preparing vegetables.

Blanched the vegetable and drizzle a little oyster sauce, a tiny bit of oil and a dash of fried shallots. Yum.

Blueberry Muffin, Cocoa Fudge Cookies

I have got a long long list of what to do/bake but because of many factors especially my Da Chang Jin *grin*, everything was held back.

Now, my life is back into routine. So got into my baking mood again.... As I have a punnet of blueberry in the fridge, I need to used it up soon.

So here is my blueberry cupcakes. I added Orange Blossom Water (compliment from H) and gosh, it smells heavenly. Even after an hour, the sweet smelling of the essence still lingers in the air.

What you need:

250g plain flour
100g sugar
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 cup milk minus
1 tbsp
125g unsalted butter, melted
2 eggs
1 1/2 cup blueberries
1 tbsp orange blossom water
1 tbsp orange zest

Method

Preheat oven to 200 degree celcius. Greased muffin tray

Mix flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon. Set aside.

Whisk milk, butter, orange water and eggs till smooth.

Add the dry ingredients and stir till blended.

Add the blueberries and orange zest till evenly distributed. Spoon into tins and bake for 15 - 20 mins.

This is another recipe that I wanted to try for a long long time. Cocoa Fudge Cookies (adapted from Alice Medrich).

The reason why I am so keen on this recipe is that I personally don't like hard cookies. In fact, I don't like hard candy too. So the FUDGE word caught my attention.

Since I got everything that I needed even the dried cranberry, I make a go for this. Thumbs up, this recipe will definitely be here for good.

What you need

125g plain flour
¼ tsp bicarbonate of soda
⅛ tsp salt
¼ cup butter, room temperature
7 tbsp cocoa powder (unsweetened)
100g sugar
58g brown sugar
1/3 cup plain yogurt
1 tsp vanilla extract
½ cup dried cranberries

Method

Preheat oven to 175 degree celcius.

Sift flour, baking soda and salt in a small bowl.

In a large, microwave-safe bowl, melt the butter in the microwave.

Sift cocoa and then stir sugars.

Add yogurt and vanilla extract.

Add flour and mix until just combined.

Stir in dried cranberries.

Drop tablespoonfuls of batter onto a parchment lined baking sheet.

Press down slightly to flatten; cookies do not spread a lot.

Bake for 9-12 minutes or until set and slightly firm at the edges.

Allow to cool on the pan for a few minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.