Chinese New Year Bakes 2012

My baking blog seems to be gathering cobwebs due to several weeks of neglect. Before it continues to fall apart due to lack of maintenance, it is time to do some "Spring Cleaning" and "repair works".

This post was supposed to be up during Chinese New Year period. For this Chinese New Year, I have decided to move away from doing just the usual pineapple tarts. Come to think of it, it is my fourth year doing the all-time festive favourite. Before I could decide if I want to make the pineapple paste from scratch, mum happily handed me two packets of store-bought paste, leaving me with no choice but to use them.

Ever since I had my maiden attempt on making homemade pineapple jam, the bar has been raised. I am no longer satisfied with the one-dimensional plainly sweet pineapple jam. There is far too much sugar in store-bought paste, probably necessary to allow the paste to keep for a long period of time. In addition, store-bought jam is much drier compared to homemade ones, does not taste as fruity and lack the cinnamon taste which gives it the extra oomph.

Next year, I will likely not be doing any pineapple tarts and will be shifting the focus to trying out other CNY cookies instead.

Preparing the pineapple balls and pineapple tart crust.

Store bought pineapple paste. Sweet and sticky.

Pineapple tart pastry made with Lurpak butter.

Besides doing pineapple tarts, I have tried Florence's peanut cookies recipe. These cookies are so fragile that they crumble in the mouth right away, giving the melt-in-the-mouth texture. Personally, I prefer my peanut cookies to be firm and crunchy, but taste-wise there is nothing for me to find fault with, for they are packed with loads of peanut flavour. I will be using caster sugar in place of the icing sugar for this same recipe next CNY to give a crunchy texture instead.

Just a few tubs of CNY goodies I have made.

Peanut cookies and pineapple tarts.  

Peanut Cookies (recipe from Do What I Like by Florence)
Taste and Texture: Strong peanut flavour with melt-in-the-mouth texture.

click on the following link for recipe:
recipe


Instagram link: http://instagram.com/bakertanbakes

Homemade Subway Chocolate Chip Cookies

When Jean posted her chewy chocolate chip cookies, my instincts told me that these are the cookies that I have been searching high and low for. I have always looked forward to chocolate chip cookies that promise a signature subway chew, firm yet almost crisp-free. So far, the chewy cookies that I have tried are too tender for my liking, so much that they are more appropriately described as cakey.  

Most cookie recipes that are categorized as "chewy" usually consist of a large amount of brown sugar. While it imparts a nice caramel undertone to the cookies, it does not necessary result in cookies that are chewy to the bite. Grasping the baking time for these so-called chewy cookies can be tricky; a short baking time will result in overly tender cookies while over-baking the the cookies would mean that they will become crispy. 

What caught my attention were the ingredients called for, more specifically melted butter and bread flour. The use of bread flour seems to promise a firmer mouth-feel and there was something alluring about using melted butter, a method of making cookies that is somewhat foreign to me. Perhaps it is this unfamiliarity that draws my curiosity and attention to this particular recipe, hoping that it would churn out results the way I was expecting.

My expectations were put to the test. The first batch turned out tender in the middle with crisp edges, but they were noticeably firmer compared to cookies I have baked in the past. Great, I am one step closer to my aim.

Moving on, I checked the results on subsequent batches, extending the baking times. Baking the cookies longer would meant they would turn out crispier on the whole. Making use of the high humidity levels to my advantage, I allowed the cookies to rest in the open for some time for the sake of softening them. It worked, and it work brilliantly indeed!

The process of firming the cookies up adequately and softening them to offset the crisp churned out cookies that had a firm chew 70% similar to that of Subway cookies. Flavour-wise, they were extremely good since the whole lot was loaded with an abundance of chocolate chips and there was a nice caramel fragrance. What else more could I have possibly asked for?  

Since the type of fat used is said to determine the texture of cookies, I have always suspected that the type of fat used for subway cookies is something else other than butter, possibly shortening. Now that melted butter works well, I shall not be toying with the idea of experimenting with shortening, margarine or even a combination two fats. 

Some thoughts on cookies I would like to consolidate and share:

1. All cookies will firm up when the baking time is extended. However, it does not necessary means that all cookies will becomes crispy when baked for a longer time. 
2. Freshly baked cookies have the best crisp. After being subjected to humidity, they lose their crunch/crisp. Simply re-bake the cookies and allow them to cool. The crunch/crisp will return. 
3. To keep crunchy/crispy cookies well, store them in air-tight containers when they are completely cool.
4. Not all cookies are created equal. Their texture differ from chewy, sandy, crunchy/crispy, melt-in-the-mouth, crumbly, fudgy to cakey. 
5. The type of sugars used affect the taste and texture of cookies. Icing sugar are used more for melt-in-the mouth cookies. Plain sugar is said to impart crunch while brown sugar is imparts a chewy characteristic. 
6. The type of fat used affects the flavour and spread of cookies. Butter cookies spread the most, compared to cookies containing shortening or oil. Personally, I feel that butter imparts the best flavour. 
7. The amount of chilling time and presence of nuts and chunky ingredients also affect the spread of cookies. Chunky cookies loaded with nuts and chocolate chips do not spread as much as plain cookies. Well chilled cookie dough do not spread as much as cookies that are unchilled. Vary the chilling time to get thick or flat cookies as desired. 
8. When cookies melt into an oily pool after baking, it means there is insufficient flour. Usually, the weight of butter will not exceed the weight of flour. 

I am submitting this entry to Aspiring Bakers # 7 - Chocolate Delights (May 2011) hosted by DG from Tested and Tasted.

Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies (recipe from Good Eats by Alton Brown)

Texture and taste: Chewy and firm. Has a distinct caramel flavour and is loaded with chocolate chips

For the recipe, refer to :

Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies

My adaptation:

• sugar cut down to 30g
• brown sugar cut down to 230g
• increased vanilla to 2 1/2 tsp 
• Mixed melted butter while it was warm instead of letting it cool completely
• Bake 3 tbs sized cookies for 17 mins (or firm enough) at 190 degrees C and allowing them to cool and soften. 
• Makes about 20 jumbo sized cookies. 

Note:

• When overbaked, the cookies turn crisp crunchy. Quite a versatile recipe that yields either firm chewy cookies or firm crunchy cookies. 

Instagram link: http://instagram.com/bakertanbakes

Double the Chocolate Goodness

What is the best thing to do when you have a sweet tooth? The answer is - learn to bake. And that was what I did exactly. Now that I have been baking for some time, I can satisfy my sweet cravings whenever I feel like it, customized the way I want it to be.

Now that this month's Aspiring Bakers theme is chocolate, I have a list of chocolate bakes making their way to my to-do-list. I am so going to abuse my chocolate books for this period of time, one particularly worth mentioning being Chocolate Chocolate by Lisa Yockelson. The book promises a myriad of lip-smacking chocolate treats, and one treat that caught my eye was a Chocolate Chocolate Chunk Cookie recipe.

Previously when I made similar double-dosed chocolate cookies, they turned out supremely fudgy,gooey and slightly on the sweet side, very much like brownies in the form of cookies. In contrast, these Chocolate Chocolate Chunk Cookies from Lisa Yockelson turned out to be firm and sandy (I usually like my cookies to be firmer). There were little pockets of 'molten lava' enveloped amidst the crumbs, thanks to the use of chocolate chunks (I used chocolate callets/pistoles) instead of the conventional chocolate chips. If chocolate chips were used, they would melt to a paste-like consistency instead. 

On the whole, most recipes from this chocolate compendium by Lisa Yockelson look very promising. However, there tend to be many similar recipes, for example, several recipes on flourless/ near flourless chocolate cakes with little explanation on how the texture and taste would vary. Readers from certain parts of the world might also be short-changed since different varieties of chocolate sweets (Snickers, Reese Buttercups, Heath etc) are often used, but some of them may not be easily available. 

Even though the recipes I have tried all work out really well, I must say she has a tendency to produce extremely sweet chocolate frostings, some of which require 4-7 cups ( 1cup icing sugar is 100g) of icing sugar. These are the recipes I am never going to try out. 

I am submitting this entry to Aspiring Bakers #7 - Chocolate Delight (May 2011) hosted by DG from Tested and Tasted

Chocolate Chocolate Chunk Cookies (recipe adapted from Chocolate Chocolate by Lisa Yockelson)

Serving size: 40 cookies

Taste and texture: Crunchy, sandy, bittersweet chocolatey with pockets of molten chocolate. 

Equipment and Materials:

• Stand beater/ handheld mixer or wooden spoon
• Flour sieve
• Measuring spoon set
• Spatula
• Mixing bowls
• Wire rack
• Baking trays/ cookie sheets
• Baking/ parchment paper

Ingredients:

• 220g plain flour
• 1 tbs cocoa powder
• a pinch of salt
• 165g unsalted butter, softened
• 135g castor sugar
• 60g brown sugar
• 50g egg, beaten and mixed with 2 tsp vanilla or 1 tbs Baileys
• 60g unsweetened chocolate, melted and cooled
• 230g coarsely chopped bittersweet chocolate, or bittersweet chocolate in pistole/callet form (around 60%)

Making the cookies:

Mixing dry ingredients - Sift the plain flour, cocoa powder and salt into a large mixing bowl. Whisk with a balloon/wire whisk to ensure even distribution. 

Cream butter - Cream butter on medium low speed until fluffy. Add in castor sugar and continue to beat for 2 minutes. Add in the brown sugar and beat for 1 minute. The creamed butter should be sandy and fluffy. 

Making the cookie dough - With the mixer on medium low speed, add the beaten egg mixture in two additions, ensuring each addition is incorporated before adding the next. Add in melted unsweetened chocolate and beat until combined, scraping sides and bottom of bowl of ensure even mixing. 

Next, add in the flour and mix on low speed until the flour just disappears. Lastly, fold in the chocolate chunks   and ensure that they are evenly distributed. Chill prepared dough for 30 minutes. 

Baking the cookies - Preheat oven to 180 degrees C. Scoop levelled tablespoons of dough onto baking trays lined with baking paper, spacing each dough apart to allow space for spreading. Bake cookie dough for 16-20 minutes at 180 degrees. Cookies will be slightly firm to the touch when done and will firm up further upon cooling. Allow cookies to firm up for a bout a minute or two on their baking trays before transferring them to cool on wire rack. Ensure cookies cool completely on wire rack before storing in air tight containers. 

Notes:

• Do a test batch (3 or 4 cookie dough) to determine your ideal baking time and texture. It might not be the same as mine since every oven is different. My cookies usually take 20 minutes to bake. Do note that a longer baking time would result in a firmer cookie and a shorter baking time produces softer cookies. 
• The 30 minute chilling time prevents the cookies from overspreading. To get nice thick cookies that do not spread much, freeze the dough for 5 minutes after they are shaped. 
• Unsweetened chocolate is not the same as cocoa powder. 
• You might want to add more bittersweet chocolate. I will be doing that for my next round. 
• To re-crisp the cookies, return the cookies to the oven and bake at 180 degrees for about 7 minutes. Allow to cool completely. The crunch will return. 

Lose Some, Gain Some and Muesli Cookies

Its must have been a long while since I exercised regularly. For the past two weeks while I was away for Reservist training, I found it to be especially physically exhausting. Perhaps age is fast catching up on me too. Whichever it is, it just signifies that it is time for me to hit the running track and go for laps in the pool.

When I got back home after training was over, I got a rude shock. My laptop went down. What a nice timing it had to be.... My baking pics were all gone, including pics for two backlogs - raisin oatmeal cookies and a cookies and cream cake, along with other files that were in my hard disk. My windows vista even got downgraded to windows XP as the recovery disk was one for windows XP.

On a positive note, my friend got me a stand mixer at a real steal - a 1150W 5L capacity beater (lesser known brand), all for only 50 bucks. Well, I guess sometimes you lose some but you gain some in return. I am going to use it for bread making and big-batch baking. The two extra mixing bowls could come in handy too.

I missed baking a great deal now that I have endured two bake-less weeks. For a start, I tweaked the raisin oatmeal recipe and used raisins + Dorset Cereals (low sugar content, with natural sweetness from dried fruits) instead to churn out a batch of Muesli Cookies. The great thing about using Dorset Cereals is that they offer a wide variety of dried fruits and nuts all mixed together. And how did it turned out? Chunky, oaty-nutty-fruity cookies which were cereals-ly good! 

Muesli Cookies (recipe adapted from the Art & Soul of Baking by Cindy Mushet) 
Serving size: 40 cookies
Taste and texture: Chunky, nutty, fruity. 
Equipment and materials: 

• Stand electric beater/ handheld electric beater or wooden spoon
• Flour sieve
• Measuring spoon set
• Spatula
• Mixing bowls
• Wire rack
• Baking trays/ cookie sheets
• Baking / parchment paper

Ingredients:

• 120g unsalted butter, softened at room temperature
• 80g brown sugar
• 35g castor sugar
• 1 egg, lightly beaten (60g with shell)
• 150g plain flour
• 1/4 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 190g muesli (I used Dorset Cereals)
• 75g raisins

Making the Cookies:

Mixing dry ingredients - Sift plain flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt into a large mixing bowl. Whisk with a balloon whisk to distribute them evenly.  

Cream butter - Beat the butter and both sugars on medium speed for 2 minutes until butter mixture is fluffy. The butter need not be as well-creamed as that for making cakes.

Making the cookie dough - Stir in the egg into the creamed butter and mix on medium low speed until combined. Next, stir in flour mixture and beat on low speed to combine butter-egg mixture and flour briefly. Stop once the dough starts to comes together. Scrape and fold in any stray flour with a spatula. Lastly, fold in the  muesli and raisins. 

Baking the cookies - Scoop leveled tablespoons of dough onto baking trays/sheets lined with baking paper, leaving 1.5 inch between each cookie dough. Preheat oven to 180 degrees C and bake for 12-18 minutes. Once done, the cookies should be firm to the touch and will firm up further upon cooling. Leave cookies to cool completely on a wire rack before storing in air-tight containers.

Notes:

1. Bake cookies for 12 minutes for softer cookies or 18 minutes for firmer cookies. 
2. cookies do not spread much since there is a great amount of oats, nuts and dried fruits. 
3. Use 140g rolled oats and 100g raisins for raisin oatmeal cookies. 

Notice:

If you wish to post the recipe and instructions online, please give due credit and do re-phrase the instructions. I have taken quite a bit of effort to construct, edit and type them out. Thank you =]

Fruity Goodness - Orange Cranberry Shortbread

I am counting down as the days pass by. Five days and "It's Time"! In case you're wondering, I am counting down to the release of Stefanie Sun's album and "It's Time" is the name of her long-waited album, which will land in record stores on 8th March, that is if no mishap occurs. While she is seemingly having a good break these past four years, leading her own life and making preparations for this album, I am baking consientiously in the kitchen and burying myself in baking titles with thick covers. 

In the meanwhile before the arrival of the big day,  I can only hide my excitment and distract myself by churning out sweet goods. Shortbreads are my preferred choice when it comes to cookies. They are firm, crunchy and buttery, all the requirements I would expect from a cookie. Actually, I am really not that picky. Give me a jar of cookies and I will clear it in no time.

Traditionally, shortbreads are baked in round pans and cut into wedges. However, that will only yield about 10 cookies. Therefore, I prefer to bake my shortbread cookies as icebox cookies, where the cookie dough is being formed into a log, chilled, and then sliced into rounds or squares. If you dislike shaping and cutting out cookies, this is one method you would like to consider. 

Let the vibrant colours and fruity flavours charm you with this cranberry shortbread. It is a good choice of cookie to pass to your loved ones and brighten their day up. Just make sure you use a decent brand of butter to impart a nice fragrance to the cookies.

I will be submitting this entry to this month's Aspiring Bakers # 5 - Fruity March hosted by Jess from Bakerious.

Orange Cranberry Shortbread (recipe adapted from Honey & Jam)
Serving size: 40 - 50 cookies
Taste and texture: Crunchy-crumbly.
Equipment and materials:
1) Stand electric beater/ handheld electric beater or wooden spoon
2) Flour sieve
3) Measuring spoon set
4) Spatula
5) Mixing bowls
6) Wire rack
7) Baking trays/ cookie sheets
8) Baking / parchment paper
9) Grater/ zester

Ingredients:
205g unsalted butter, softened at room temperature
105g icing sugar
finely grated zests of 2 oranges
90g chopped dried cranberries
270g plain flour
1/4 tsp baking powder
a pinch of salt

Making the Cookies:
Preheat oven - Preheat oven to 180 degrees C.

Mix dry ingredients - Sift flour, baking powder and salt into a mixing bowl. Stir with a balloon whisk to distribute them evenly.

Cream butter - Beat the butter, icing sugar and orange zests on medium speed for 2 minutes until butter mixture is fluffy. The butter need not be as well-creamed as that for making cakes.

Making the cookie dough - Stir in flour mixture and beat on low speed to combine butter mixture and flour briefly. Stop once the dough starts to comes together. Scrape and fold in any stray flour with a spatula. Next, fold in the chopped cranberries.

Divde dough into two equal portions. Place dough onto baking/parchment paper and roll the dough into a 1 inch (2.5cm) round/square log. Refrigerate or freeze until log is firm. Slice the log into rounds/squares of about 1 cm thickness.

Baking the cookies - Place rounds onto baking trays lined with baking/parchment paper, leaving some space between each cookie. Preheat oven to 180 degrees C and bake for 15 - 20 minutes. Once done, the cookies should be firm to the touch and will firm up further upon cooling. Leave cookies to cool completely on a wire rack before storing in air-tight containers.

Notes:
1) If cookies do not firm up well after cooling. It means they are underbaked. Fret not. Simply return the cookies to the oven and bake for another 7-10 minutes, then allow to cool.
2) When cookies are cooled, pressing into the cookies will not yield any dents/ imprints.
3) Use good butter to impart good flavour to the cookies.
4) Do a test batch of 3 or 4 cookies to test the baking time.

Instagram link: http://instagram.com/bakertanbakes

Almond Cookies

Finally! I finally managed to do some cookies Chinese New Year cookies. My idea is to work on either cashew cookies or almond cookies for a start and I settled on the latter. This almond cookie recipe requires no butter but uses oil instead. Hmm.. no butter? I normally wouldn't go for cookies that are butterless. No harm trying out the recipe since the dough seems easy to make with no creaming required. The best part about making it is that the dough requires no chilling at all!

It wasn't such a bad idea working on these cookies. Even though they lacked the buttery fragrance, the cookies tasted decently nutty and crunchy. After a few days of storage, they still keep their crunch really well. Neat! With the absence of butter, these cookies do not prove to be overly rich to the palate. I do find it a good change from the usual rich buttery cookies that are abound during the Chinese New Year period.



I know it is less than a week to Chinese New Year. I am still holding on to the possibility that I might be opening my 'mini pineapple tart factory' before sunday. Its either pineapple tarts or butter cakes, see how it goes... This might possibly be my final post before CNY, so I would like to take this opportunity to wish everyone a Happy Chinese New Year! Huat ar!

Note:  I will be attempting to improve on the recipe. Find that there is a little something lacking in its taste. Texture wise it is pretty good. Will try to either do a butter version or substitute part of the flour with same weight of ground almond to improve the flavour.

Almond Cookies (recipe adapted from Delicious Nyonya Kueh and Desserts by Patricia Lee)
Serving size: about 50 cookies, fills one small CNY plastic cookie tub
Taste and Texture: Crunchy-crumbly, nutty, non-buttery
Equipment and materials:
1) Mixing bowl
2) Flour sieve
3) Baking/cookie trays
4) Wire rack
5) Measuring spoon set
6) Baking paper
7) Wire whisk

Ingredients:
120g diced almonds, toasted
220g plain flour (try substituting some plain flour with same weight of ground almond for richer flavour)
100g icing sugar
105g corn oil
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt + a pinch more
2 egg yolks for eggwash

Making the dough:
Toasting the almonds: Place diced almonds in a single layer on a tray lined with baking paper. Toast the diced almonds at 160 degrees C for 20- 25 minutes until lightly browned. This will improve the fragrance of the almonds.

Prepare dry ingredients: Sift flour, icing sugar, baking soda, baking powder and salt into a large mixing bowl. Mix dry ingredients evenly with a wire whisk. Add in the almonds and mix well.

Forming the dough: Add corn oil to the dry ingredients. Gather the mixture to form a dough. Gently knead the dough to incorporate dough crumbs.

Shaping cookies: Roll cookie dough between 2 pieces of baking paper to about 1cm thick. Cut out cookies with desired cutters. Gather scraps and continue cutting out dough until dough is used up.

Baking the cookies: Brush eggwash onto cut out cookie dough. Bake cookies at 160 degrees C for about 20 minutes. Remove baked cookies and allow them to cool on wire rack completely before storing in air-tight containers.

Notes:
1) Try substituting some of the flour with ground almond for richer flavour. This may make the cookie melt-in-the mouth since there is less gluten due to less flour used.
2) Cookies taste better the next day.

Instagram link: http://instagram.com/bakertanbakes

Bakertan's Christmas Goodies - Chunky Peanut, Chocolate Chip and Cinnamon Cookies

The day after I returned back from Bangkok, Stephanie passed me two packs of cookies, along with her mum's stash of xmas ornaments (for decorating my log cakes), a handmade card/cookie tag and a xmas present. She also passed me snow powder knowing that it will come in handy for my log cakes. Thats indeed very sweet (pun) of her. The cookies are cream cheese walnut cookies and orange craneberry cookies. Both cookies are very tender and crumbly in texture (as opposed to firm and crumbly like shortcrust pastry) and I must say they are pretty good. Coincidentally, the cream cheese walnut cookies she made was on my to-bake list and it was the exact same recipe from Martha Stewart. 

For the xmas present from her, I recieved a book (written in chinese) explaining the science of baking. I started reading it on the same day and its indeed very informative. There isn't much pictures but the detailed explanations more than made up for it. Thanks a lot, Stephanie!

This is the last entry for my 1st round of xmas goodies. There will be the 2nd, 3rd and 4th round of Dec festive baking coming up. When I first came across the recipe, the name caught my attention and I knew I had to make these chunky peanut, chocolate chip and cinnamon cookies. Instead of the usual crunchy peanut butter cookies, salted roasted peanuts, cinnamon and chocolate chips are added, giving the cookies a whole new depth.

I couldn't really figure out the taste of the cinnamon but it somehow elevates the fragrance of the cookie. Will probably add a bit more the next time I make these. I tried to vary the baking times and found that the recipe works better for a crunchy textured cookie as opposed to a soft cookie.

It will be Xmas in a few hours time. Merry Xmas to all my family, friends and readers! Have lots of fun wining and dining. Cheers and have a wonderful festive season ahead!

Chunky Peanut, Chocolate Chip and Cinnamon Cookies ( recipe adapted from Martha Stewart Cookies)

Serving size: 90 cookies
Taste and texture: Crunchy chunky
Equipment and materials:
1) Stand electric beater/ handheld electric beater or wooden spoon
2) Flour sieve
3) Measuring spoon set
4) Spatula
5) Mixing bowls
6) Wire rack
7) Baking trays/ cookie sheets
8) Baking / parchment paper
9) Balloon whisk

Ingredients:
285g plain flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon (can add a bit more)
150g unsalted butter, softened
150g creamy peanut butter
140g brown sugar
80g castor sugar
2 eggs (about 55-60g each)
240g chocolate chips
100g coarsely chopped salted, roasted peanuts
2 tsp vanilla

Making the Cookies:
Mixing the dry ingredients: Sift flour, baking soda, salt and cinnamon into a large bowl. Whisk the dry ingredients with a baloon whisk to ensure even distribution.

Creaming butter and peanut butter: In a mixing bowl, cream the butter and  peanut butter for 2 minutes on medium speed. Add the sugars and continue creaming for another 2-3 minutes.

Adding eggs: Add in eggs one after the other into the butter mixture, beating the mixture well before the next egg is added.

Forming the dough: Add in the dry ingredients to the butter-egg mixture and beat on low speed to combine. Stop once the dough starts to comes together. Scrape and fold in any stray flour with a spatula.

Adding peanuts, chocolate chips and vanilla: Fold in the peanuts, chocolate chips and vanilla to distribute them evenly into the cookie dough.

Shaping the cookie dough: Refrigerate the dough for about 15-20 minutes to firm it up. Scoop rounded teaspoons (slightly heaped) of dough and shape them into balls. Place shaped cookie balls on lined cookie trays/sheets and leave some space between each dough to allow for expansion. Flatten them slightly with ur palm.

Preheat oven: Preheat oven to 180 degrees C.

Baking and storing cookies: Bake the cookies at 180 degrees C for 13-16 mins. Transfer baked cookies to wire rack allow them to cool on wire rack completely before storing in an airtight container.

Notes:
1) If cookies soften after storage, bake/toast them for a couple of minutes to re-crisp them.
2) Confirm the baking time by making a test batch of 2-3 cookie dough as the oven temperature and baking time varies from model to model. Once you are satisfied with the texture, use the same baking time for the rest of the cookie dough.
3) The shaped cookie dough balls need to be flatten as the cookie does not spread much during baking, unlike most other cookies.
4) Half recipe to yield less cookies.

Bakertan's Christmas Goodies - Cornflakes Raisins Chocolate Chip Cookies

For the entire week, I was holidaying in Bangkok. My itinerary was packed with tons of shopping expedittions and endless visits to tourist hotspots. Needless to say, I ended up with near to a dozen t-shirts. There isn't any baking stuff this time. Seems like baking is a rare sight in Bangkok and bakeries are almost nowhere to be found, except the high-end shopping centres.

It was a refreshing experience. Me and my friends navigated our way around taking various modes of transport like the skytrain, MRT, tuk-tuk, cabs, water taxis and not to forget the most basic - walking (lots of it). While roaming Bangkok, we were greeted with the many different faces of the city; street hawkers, thai massage parlours, MRT and skytrain stations, highways, traffic congested streets, night markets, pubs, railway slums, river life, buddhist temples, palaces etc.

Its feel good to be home. The air is clean and I am thankful for the amenitites we have here that make life so much more convenient and comfortable. Sometimes, it takes a short overseas trip to realise that the best place to be is still home - Singapore.

Since I was away for 6 days, it is a bakeless week. I miss my books and baking gadgets and am eager to get back to what I love most. For now, I shall share a bake that I have made previously for my 1st round of Xmas goodies - Cornflakes Raisins Chocolate Chip Cookies.

This is the second time I am making these cookies. After I first made them, I thought I won't be making them for awhile. The same thoughts re-surfaced after I baked them a second time. I have to admit that I love the results that the cookies offer, but dread going through the process of making them. Making 60 of these cookies took me more than 3 hours alone and most of the preparation goes into shaping the cookies.

The efforts are well worth it. The first time I made these, my elder brother and sister-in-law were full of praises for it. This time round, my mum and younger brother loved them to bits. The toasted cornflake exterior pairs off really well with the orange flavoured chocolate chip filled interior, giving a light yet refreshing taste. Do a favour for youself by saving some cookies after baking them, before you regret that the cookie jar is emptied in no time.

Cornflakes Raisins Chocolate Chip Cookies ( recipe adapted from Crazy for Chocolate by Periplus)

Serving size: 60 cookies
Taste and texture: Crunchy-chewy.
Equipment and materials:
1) Stand electric beater/ handheld electric beater or wooden spoon
2) Flour sieve
3) Measuring spoon set
4) Spatula
5) Mixing bowls
6) Wire rack
7) Grater
8) Baking trays/ cookie sheets
9) Baking / parchment paper

Ingredients:
2 tsp grated orange zest
200g unsalted butter, softened (I recommend reducing this to 160g)
160g castor sugar
2 eggs, lightly beaten
250g self-raising flour
100g semi sweet chocolate chips
100g sultanas
200g cornflakes, lightly crushed

Making the Cookies:
Preparing the zest: Finely grate the zest of a large orange or two small oranges over the sugar. This will allow the sugar to catch some of the orange oil. Rub the sugar with the zest well to infuse the flavour of the orange oil and the sugar. The sugar will become moist and will be tinted orange.

Creaming the  butter and adding eggs: In a mixing bowl, beat the butter and sugar on medium speed for 2 minutes until butter mixture is pale and fluffy. Add in eggs one after the other, beating the mixture well before the next is added.

Adding flour: Sift in self-raising flour and beat on low speed to combine butter-egg mixture and flour briefly. Stop once the dough starts to comes together. Scrape and fold in any stray flour with a spatula.

Folding in raisings and chocolate chips: Combine the raisins and chocolate chips and distribute them evenly.Gently fold them into the cookie dough.

Shaping the cookie dough: Refrigerate the dough for 30 minutes to firm it up.  Scoop rounded teaspoons (slightly heaped) of dough and shape them into balls. Coat them with crushed cornflakes. Place coated cookie doughs on lined cookie trays/sheets and leave some space between each dough to allow for expansion. Bake the cookies at 180 degrees C for 15-20 mins, until the dough turns golden.

About 10 minutes into baking, the cookies would have expanded and will become sparse/bald as a result. Lightly cover the surface with crushed cornflakes and return them to the oven. Nevermind if they make a mess on the tray.

Cooling and storing baked cookies: Allow cookies to cool completely on a wire rack before storing them in airt-tight jars.

Notes:
1) If cookies soften after storage, bake/toast them for a couple of minutes to re-crisp them.
2) Vary baking time to get desired texture. A short baking time will result in a slightly cakey/chewy interior. Longer baking times will result in a full crispy interior.
3) Confirm the baking time by making a test batch of 2-3 cookie dough as the oven temperature and baking time varies from model to model. Once you are satisfied with the texture, use the same baking time for the rest of the cookie dough.
4) Half the recipe to get yield a smaller batch of cookies.
5) The dough is really soft. Refrigeration will make the dough easier to handle and shape.

Instagram link: http://instagram.com/bakertanbakes

Bakertan's Christmas Goodies 1 - Two Cookies and a Log Cake

Whew, last weekend was a tiring one! For the entire saturday afternoon, I was busy shopping for ingredients at Phoon Huat, Cold Storage and Ntuc. The ingredients I lugged back home weighed almost close to 7kg - flour, butter, cream cheese, mascarpone cheese, whipping cream etc... Luckily I brought my backpack along. 

After taking a short rest, I went to battle armed with my oven, mixer and my arsenal of firepower - flour, nuts, peanut butter, raisins, cornflakes and chocolate chips.  The entire battle lasted 7 hours in total before a truce was called. The battle trophies? 90 chunky peanut, chocolate chip and cinnamon cookies and 60 cornflakes raisins chocolate chip cookies. I have never made this much cookies in a single day in my life! Imagine having to shape all these cookies. Very tedious!

The battle continued on sunday and the battle trophy this time round was a chocolate log cake. I didn't do a good job with the rolling of the swiss roll and it cracked horribly after rolling. Nevertheless, I took it as a log cake practice and slathered chocolate buttercream over the cracked swiss roll. It covered up really well and I was rather pleased with my first log cake.

All the above bakes were meant for my first christmas gathering on sunday evening. It may sound a bit early, but we had no choice since most of us won't be around when it draws close to Christmas. Apart from serving its cause as an aftermeal dessert, the log cake also doubled up as a birthday cake (in advance) for one of my friends. Happy Birthday Queen!

After cutting the cake, the interior didn't look like it was badly cracked. I remember one blogger mentioning that log cakes are very forgiving. They are indeed!  

I would like to take this opportunity to dedicate this log cake to my blogger friends Eelin and Sheryl since they are dec babies too. Happy Birthday ladies!

Unlike the same Christmas gathering from previous years, there is quite a bit of sweets and baked goodies going around this time. They are:

• peppermint candy canes
• chocolate almonds (made with valrhona, good stuff!)
• chocolate cream cheese brownies (my friend made it from my cookie book. I'm going to make this one day.)
• chunky peanut, chocolate chip and cinnamon cookies and cornflakes raisins chocolate chip cookies which I prepared.
• Christmas tree butter cookie

Christmas sure is a good chance and the perfect excuse to bake. I can already forsee that I will be making christmas goodies for at least 3 other occasions. Its going to be a bakeful month and more cookies, log cakes and perhaps brownies. I think I will probably do 6-8 different types of cookies for this festive season.  

The recipes for the two cookies and log cake will be featured in upcoming posts. Stay tuned...

Crunchy Chocolate Chip Cookies

When it comes to cookies, who could resist a chocolate chip cookie? Nope, I can't bring myself to say no. Chocolate chip cookies are so widely accepted that they are thousands of recipes out there, each with its own unique characteristics. For me, the most memorable chocolate chip cookies would be those from Subway and Famous Amos, aptly representing the chewy chocolate chip cookie and the crunchy chocolate chip cookie respectively.  

I made these household favourites for the recent potluck meetup, choosing the crunchy chocolate chip cookies since they store rather well. This very recipe comes from Bakingmum. It's the first cookie I attempted  to bake when I first started out and to date, it's one of the best recipes I have encountered. The magic in these cookies lies in the presence of cornflour, giving the cookies their firm crunch.

Here I present to you, these simple yet fabulous cookies from Bakingmum (I omitted the nuts, added more chips and vanilla), which could possibly pass off as a not-too-shabby version of the Famous Amos cookie. When I passed a pack of cookies to one of my friends, she immediately recognized the recipe even before munching on it. The reason? She uses the same recipe too!  

Chocolate Chip Cookies ( recipe adapted slightly modified from Bakingmum)

Serving size: 40 -50 cookies
Equipment and materials:
1) Stand electric beater/ handheld electric beater or wooden spoon
2) Flour sieve
3) Measuring spoon set
4) Spatula
5) Mixing bowl
6) Wire rack
7) baking trays/ cookie sheets

Ingredients:
125g butter softened at room temperature
75g caster sugar
60g brown sugar
1 egg, light beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla extract (use less if using a good brand) or 1/2 tsp vanilla essence
150g plain flour
45g cornflour
1/2 tsp bicarbonanate of soda (baking soda)
pinch of salt
170g chocolate chips

Making cookie dough:
Prepare dry ingredients: Sift plain flour, cornflour, baking soda and salt together in a large bowl. Stir to ensure they are evenly distributed.

Creaming the butter: In a mixing bowl, cream butter with caster sugar and brown sugar untill light, pale and fluffy.

Adding egg and vanilla and dry ingredients: Add egg and vanilla to butter mixture. Mix to get a even mixture.

Add dry ingredients: Next, add in the dry ingredients. Mix and stop once the flour is all absorbed. A soft dough should be obtained. Scrape sides and bottom of bowl with spatula

Adding chocolate chips: Stir in the chocolate chips and ensure a well distribution.

Chilling and shaping of dough: Chill dough for 30-45 minutes to firm it up. Spoon heaped teaspoons of dough onto lined cookies trays, leaving some space between each cookie dough. Each cookie should have about 4 chips.To prevent cookies from spreading, freeze shaped cookie dough for 10 minutes (with the cookie tray/s).

Baking Cookies: Preheat oven to 180 degrees C. Bake cookies for 20-25 minutes or until medium browned.

Cooling and storing: Allow cookies to cool on their trays for 2 minutes before transferring them to a wire rack. Cool cookies completely on wire rack before storing in air-tight containers.

Notes:
1) If the cookies do soften for some reasons, bake them for 10 minutes at 180 degrees C and allow to cool. The crunch will return.

Instagram link: http://instagram.com/bakertanbakes

Baking Session with Mum - Marble Shortbread and Brownies

Nowadays, I will offer to accompany my mum to the market to purchase groceries and help her out with the food preparation when she cooks. Since she is working during office hours and hardly have time to prepare meals on most days, I would always look forward to her cooking on sundays. Last Sunday was slightly different from norm as I had the rare opportunity to engage in a baking session with my mum. "Let's do cookies together". She took me by surprise when she came to me and suggested that.

When it comes to cooking, I will take on a supporting role and help prepare ingredients such as peeling onions and dicing potatoes. It was a reversal of roles for our baking session. My mum helped out with the preparation of baking ingredients instead - weighing ingredients and sifting the flour, while I did the mixing.

During the baking session, we churned out marble shortbread and fudgy brownies. The marble shortbread caught my attention when I was browsing through one of my recently bought cookie book. Most of the time, we would only think of or come across marble cakes, cheesecakes or brownies. I thought marble cookies were kind of uncommon. Usually it will bull's-eyes cookies or pinwheel cookies instead.

My mum and younger brother enjoyed the cookies. I love the crunchy-crumbly texture but thought that the taste could improve with a bit more vanilla or some orange zests to bring out the contrasts of the slight bitterness of the cocoa. These marble shortbread are quite simple to make and they store really well in my IKEA cookie jar. 

I reduced the sugar content in the brownies by a-third and the brownies baked much earlier than I expected, catching me off-guard. I had intended the brownies to be 30-40% fudgy but the batter firmed up and crumbs were almost fully developed when I was aware. Thankfully the brownies did not dry out and were still moist even though they were hardly fudgy anymore, probably 5% fudgy at most was too well done for me. This recipe is definitely a keeper as the unsweetened chocolate (vs semisweet/bittersweet chocolates) gave the brownies an intense chocolatey flavour.

Marble Shortbread ( recipe adapted from 三步骤成功做饼干 by 郭士弘)
Serving size: 20 - 25 cookies
Taste and texture: Crunchy-crumbly.
Equipment and materials:
1) Stand electric beater/ handheld electric beater or wooden spoon
2) Flour sieve
3) Measuring spoon set
4) Spatula
5) Mixing bowls
6) Wire rack
7) Baking trays/ cookie sheets
8) Baking / parchment paper

Ingredients:
150g unsalted butter
85g icing sugar
220g cake flour
1/2 - 1 tsp vanilla extract/ essence
10g cocoa powder

Making the Cookies:
Cream butter: Beat the butter and icing sugar on medium speed for 2 minutes until butter mixture is fluffy. The butter need not be as well-creamed as that for making cakes.

Making the cookie dough: Sift in cake flour and beat on low speed to combine butter mixture and flour briefly. Stop once the dough starts to comes together. Scrape and fold in any stray flour with a spratula.

Divide the dough into two portions, one portion slightly bigger than the other. Combine the cocoa powder with the smaller dough and add the vanilla to the larger dough.

Shaping dough: Combine the plain dough and the chocolate dough. Give it some twists and turns in a irregular fashion to give it a marlbing effect. Do not overmix.

Place dough onto baking/parchment paper and roll the dough into a 1 inch (2.5cm) round log. Refrigerate or freeze until log is firm. Slice the log into rounds of about 1 cm thickness.

Baking the cookies:  Place rounds onto baking trays lined with baking/parchment paper. Preheat oven to 180 degrees C and bake for 15 - 22 minutes. Once done, the cookies should be firm to the touch and will firm up further upon cooling. Leave to cool completely on a wire rack before storing in air-tight containers.

Notes:
1) If cookies do not firm up well after cooling. It means they are underbaked. Fret not. Simply return the cookies to the oven and bake for another 7-10 minutes, then allow to cool.
2) When cookies are cooled, pressing into the cookies will not yield any dents/ imprints.
3) Using vanilla essence might be a better choice here. I think most of my vanilla extract evaporated while baking, hence I could'nt quite taste the vanilla flavour.

Crumbly and Chewy - Craneberry bites

Even though I have not baked anything this week, I had the pleasure of savouring these little mouth-size craneberry bites, all thanks to my baking friend Stephanie =]

As you can see, the cookies were very nicely cut out, something I dread doing when it comes to making cookies. Cookies certainly are easy to bake as compared to other baked goods. But when it comes to shaping them, it can be a headache sometimes, especially when the dough is too soft to handle.

In this sunny island where I reside in, it is summer all year round and the daily temperature hovers between 23 to 32 degrees C. The solution? Repeat the chilling process of the cookie dough each time shapes are cut out and the scraps are gathered.

In total, there were not one, not two, but three different lovely cookie shapes - stars, bears (look like bears to me) and flowers.   

A quick bite into these fascinating treats will reveal an unmistakenable crumbly yet chewy texture. Hmmm.... crumbly and chewy at the same time? Yes, these cookies are chewy too. Chewy simple because of the dried craneberry, offering a contrast in texture and a breakaway from the monotony of the buttery fragrance.   

The cookies did not have a chance to lie around for long. Before I knew it, the cookie jar was empty. My younger brother sure hows to appreciate his cookies.



Once again, thank you Stephanie, for these wonderful treats!

I will be making my mooncakes over the weekends. Stay tuned for updates on them....