Cookie Dough Truffles

This post is inspired by the cookie dough with the hard boiled egg i made yesterday. Even though it was unbaked, using cooked egg means that it was salmonella free and safe for consumption.

Shamefully, no one but the bakers know the wonders of unbaked cookie dough. The rest had to eat it baked.

This cookie dough truffles however, will change that.

With no raw egg, and no raw flour, these are even safer havens for the people around me to have a taste of the uncooked cookies that i (the baker) get to indulge in every now and then.

There is a couple of  much experimented (and proven) equations that i’ve had since i started baking. They go something like this.

Peanut Butter + Chocolate = Winner.

Chocolate + Salt = Bigger Winner.

These truffles, composed of the three components of peanut butter, crushed salty pretzel sticks and chocolate chips just scored a hat trick.

They are then enrobed in more chocolate, and (if you fancy), sprinkled with more sea salt. Yes, i tend to get over-indulgent.

So please, make these and let the people out there know the perks of a baker in the world of raw cookie dough!

Peanut Butter, Pretzels and Chocolate Chip Truffles

4 TBS Butter

1 C Peanut Butter

1 C Confectioner’s Sugar

1 C Crushed Pretzel Sticks

1 C Chocolate Chips

For coating:

1/2 Pounds Chocolate

1 TBS shortening

For Garnish:

Some Sea Salt

Some Hundreds and Thousands

1. Cream butter and peanut butter together. Sift in confectioners sugar and beat till well combined, scrapping down the sides of the bowl as needed.

2. Stir in pretzel sticks and chocolate chips.

3. Refrigerate cookie dough for about 15 minutes, or till they are easy to handle.

4. Roll the dough into 1 inch dough balls (I used an ice cream scoop) and place them on lined cookie sheets. Cover the balls loosely with plastic and freeze them for another 15 minutes.

5. In the meantime, melt the chocolate with the shortening (I used the microwave at 10 seconds bursts).

6. Drop the frozen balls into the melted chocolate, and sprinkle with desired toppings ( I used seasalt and hundreds and thousands)

Hard Boiled Egg Chocolate Chip Cookies

I am quite adventurous when it comes to my food. And a recipe titled hard boiled egg chocolate chip cookies intrigued me more rather than gross me out.

If you are skeptical about it, take it from me. You won’t even notice it there.

See the surface of the cookies? No traces of boiled egg at all!

But why put a boiled egg in anyway? Why not the conventional raw egg into the batter?

Well, for one, the egg adds extra moistness in the cookies.

And second, adding a hard boiled egg as opposed to a raw one makes a dry cookie dough. You know how sometimes cookie doughs get muggy and mud-like? Or how they need to be refrigerated before they can be handled?

Well, this is not it.That would safe a bit of time.

On top of that, the raw cookie dough are also salmonella safe, which made me an extra happy baker this morning, sneaking in chunks of dough into my mouth instead of the awaiting cookie tray.

Recipe taken from Tablespoon.com

For recipe, click HERE

Jam Filled Scones

These scones have been pre-filled with jam,

Just so you don’t have to.

I was reading Amber’s suggestion in my comment box on posting a scone recipe to get into the English mood, for the upcoming Royal Wedding. Because, what can be more English than scones right? But my impression of scones was that they were chunks of dry, tasteless pastries.

I did however, have this recipe bookmarked for the longest time.  A scone filled and baked with jam as filling. That would definitely jazz up these pastries. So what better time to make these than now right?

Besides the wonderful jam filling, these scones were also winners as it calls for pre-toasting the flour and the oats before they were sent to bake.

If you haven’t already tried it, you should really try tossing your oats in a saucepan and heat it over medium heat. The fragrance and the flavour the heat brought out from the oats was just so incredible!

I held my head over the saucepan and felt as if i just walked up to a popcorn stand in a movie theatre. I know oats and corns probably came from different plants. But the aromatic nutty smell from them was uncannily identical!

Needless to say, my scones were extra flavourful today. Of course, if you still doubting these scones to dry and flavourless, you can always pile on the whipped cream. Amber suggested using clotted cream, but i have no inkling on how to go about making them, and settled with the regular one (Sorry Amber!).

Or maybe some butter?

The possibilities are endless!

So with these scones, i wish Will and Kate a happy wedded bliss. And to Amber too, for making such a wonderful suggestion!

Recipe taken from Sugar Plum,

Click HERE for recipe.

Very Vanilla One Bowl Cake

This would be one of the times where “less is more”. A simple Vanilla cake dusted with icing sugar

Using custard powder as one of its ingredients, this cake is very deeply scented with vanilla. Of course, a heavy dose of my homemade vanilla extract doesnt hurt.

This cake turned out rich,moist, and quite chewy. It’s like a cross between a blondie and a butter cake. While i would have preferred this to be more light and fluffy, I liked the gorgeous rich yellow the colour of this cake turned out.  It totally epitomizes the widely used boxed “yellow cake” mix. And making this cake is almost as easy as the mix.

 But what i am loving most about this cake is still the strong vanilla flavour in this.

Quite possibly the best scent around!

Recipe from My Diverse Kitchen : Very Vanilla One Bowl Yellow Cake

Grandma Sylvia’s Salt Butter Cookies

Grandma Sylvia’s Salt Butter Cookies. That’s quite an odd name for a cookie isn’t it?

But nonetheless, it caught my attention all right.

 I really like it when a name gets attached to a recipe. Take Mrs Milman for instance. She makes pretty good chocolate ganache frosting. 

I am kinda hoping Grandma Sylvia would work her magic as well. She seems to know her stuff, cause she had the word “salt” in her butter cookies (We don’t even need to go on and on again about how i love salt in my desserts). By using salted butter, i think Grandma Sylvia and i might just make the best of friends!

 

Besides the salt, these cookies also sandwich a chocolate filling.  While the cookies were perfectly crumbly, tender and deliciously buttery (i think this might just be my to- go butter cookie recipe now), i am not too sure about the filling. The filling was a bit on the runny side for me. It runs down the sides of the cookie, and make messy globs where it lands. That is even after i refrigerated it for a bit. I guess i should have added more confectioner’s sugar to get it to set.

But I am not running away from this runny frostings cause it was pretty delicious. All that confectionar’s sugar in the filling recipe went very well with the subtly sweet butter cookies. I went forward and spread it to one side of the cookie. But instead of generously piling the frosting on like i always do, i had to be quite strategic about it. A mini blob on each cookie. Nothing too much as it will spill over the sides of the cookies and make quite the mess.

Once you are done with that one, make a couple more strategic blobs,

to get more cookies.

Don’t forget to bring them to work. They would make you popular person of today!

Grandma Sylvia’s Salt Butter Cookies

Taken from America’s Test Kitchen’s Holiday Cookies

Cookies

2 sticks salted butter, softened

2/3 cup granulated sugar

2 large egg yolks

1 tsp. vanilla2

1 tsp. whiskey (I omitted this)

1/4 cups AP flour

 

Filling:

1 oz. unsweetened chocolate, chopped

1/4 cup water

2 cups confectioners sugar

 

Preheat oven to 350. Adjust rack to middle position. Line baking sheet with parchment paper.

1. In the bowl of your electric mixer, beat butter and granulated sugar together til fluffy, about 2 minutes.

2. Reduce speed and add the yolk and beat til combined.

3. Add the vanilla and whiskey (if using)

4. Sift in flour and beat till just combined.

5. Shape the dough into 3/4″ balls (I used the smallest cookie scoop i had). Space half the balls 1″ apart on baking sheet.

6. Bake til lightly browned around edges, 10 to 12 minutes.

7. Cool cookies on sheet 2 minutes, then transfer to wire rack to cool completely.

 

Filling:

 

1. Combine chocolate and water in a small saucepan and stir over low heat till the chocolate melts.

2. Off the heat, whisk in confectioners sugar til smooth.

3. Spread filling (I just dropped a blob in the middle) onto one cookie and top with another to make sandwich.

4. Let filling set til hardened.  ( I sent it to the refrigerator)

 

New York Cheesecake

I gotta say, baking a cheesecake is like a training ground for your patience skills. Not only does it take a long time to bake, it also needs to be refrigerated (preferably overnight).
That’s not exactly easy for me. I am one who restlessly jabs at the elevator button when it doesnt arrive in 2.2 second despite being fully aware that the action is wholly useless.

For this cheesecake however, i battled my demons and victored.

I have heard of the many pittfalls making a cheesecake involve. One of the more common one is the cracked surfaces. I was quite convinced that my cheese cake was going to have Harry Potter’s lightning scar across its surface that i had a backup plan. I made more of the cookie graham cracker base than what was required in the recipe and had every intention to sprinkle it over whatever scars the cheesecake cracked for me.

Like so.

But turned out, i didnt need it! At least for this time

Look ma! No cracks! 🙂

So i learnt that to prevent your cheesecake from breaking up on the surface,  you have to leave the cheesecake in the oven for hours after it is done baking to ensure that it cools slowly.

A cheesecake which has been left to cool rapidly will crack up (no pun intended) under the pressure.

There is also the issue on under or overcooked cheesecake

An undercooked cheesecake will probably not set, while an overcooked cheesecake would be tough and dry.

I think my cheesecake did ok. It sliced well without being too tough. It was also dreamily creamy and smooth. I guess it’s a beginner’s luck!

But as a general rule of thumb, u want to bake your cheesecake just till the surface jiggles slightly when you shake the pan. It will further set as it cools and  firm up when refrigerated.

I have taken the repressed pastry chef’s recipe for this. I think the success of this cheesecake is because of her failproof recipe.

So here is to NYC and its cheesecakes!

This post has been submitted to Aspiring Baker #6: Say Cheese, hosted by Jean of needmorenoms. Thanks for hosting Jean!

Awards

I can’t be any more honored to receive the following awards from my fellow bloggers.

I cant thank

Edith from Precious moments,

Small Small Baker

Jasmine from Sweetylicious, and

Rita from rtcrita

enough for presenting  me with the  credits. Thank You so much guys! I am so very very flattered.

Here are the rules to abide in order to accept this award and they are:
1. Post linking back to the person that gave you the award
2. Share 7 random things about yourself
3. Award 15 recently discovered blogs
4. Drop them a note and tell them about it.

The randoms:

1. Although currently residing in Jakarta, Indonesia, I did most of my growing up in sunny Singapore

2. Being mostly educated in Singapore, I am supposedly proficient in both English and Chinese. While i do OK with English (sometimes fumbling with grammar), i am deficient in Chinese. I stammer, stutter and break up in cold sweat whenever the need for me to read, write or speak in the language arises.

3. I am a self/internet taught baker. I have never had professional training in my life. So, I don’t expect any fancy, sophisticated French pastries and desserts posts up in this blog, because frankly, i am clueless about them.

4. I work for a chain of restaurants. While i am sometimes involved in the very pleasant process of creating and tasting new menus, most of my days are spent facing the computer, computing mundane administration stuffs.

5. I force upon share most of what i bake with the good people at work. That way i won’t be left unsupervised with a tray of desserts all by myself. I just dont trust myself that much.

6. I bake and photograph in the mornings, because nothing beats natural light in the A.M. And because then i can immediately pack up and bring my bakes to work. Refer to #5  🙂

7. I am a Mall worshipper. You can probably catch me riding up or down the mall elevators on most days.

1. Beth from Delicious Inspiration

2. Kristina from Paddle Attachment

3. Grapefruit from Some Needful Things

4. Samina from Samina Cooks

5.  J. from Kawaiikitchen

6. Lora from diaryofamadhausfrau

7. Amy from tinytearoom

8. Raymund from angsarap

9. Betty from scrambledhenfruit

10. Maria from scandifoodie

11. Erin from makingmemorieswithyourkids

12. Yvette from yvettesblogs

13. Brianna from itsybitsybrianna

14. Swee San from thesweetspot

15. Christina from thiswomancooks

The Rabbits and the Lamb Buns

Instead of making Hot Cross Buns to celebrate Easter this year, i made  these bun(nies)

This bunny definitely taste better than rabbit foods.

And they are pretty easy to make too.

It started with a dough looking like this.

I have stuffed a generous ball of Pineapple Jam within the rabbit head and a line of the same jam along the ears.

See the ball of golden pineapple jam? (Sorry wabbit for the surgery)

As for the facial features, i just melted a bit of chocolate and drew them on.

Pretty easy right?

And since i was already on the hare-y journey, i have decided to get acquainted to another hairy friend.

The lamb

Unlike the bunnies, big guy here is pretty huge.

Each bunny is made of one ball of dough (pictured on the right), weighing 35 grams. So u can pretty much imagine how many bunnies it would make to make up Big guy here.

Anyways after baking in the hot oven, big guy here gets lotioned with good moisturising mayonnaise,

The hairy business comes next

I have used Chicken floss for “hair”.

While this lamb may look all fluff and airy without much substance, i promise you that it is not. Because within each ball of dough, i have fitted a mini sausage.

Like  so.

And as usual, i have used my bun recipe to make the dough for this.

Happy Easter everybuddy!

Easter Cookies

Guess who just bought a set of Easter cookie cutters?

All mine!

Can you spot the bunny cookie cutter? That’s my favourite from the set of 5, which include an egg, a tulip, a butterfly and a duck cookie cutter.

While the bunny and the egg are cruxes of Easter, and i can somewhat assimilate that butterflies and tulips probably hang out in the garden where the bunny hid the eggs, i am not too sure about the duck. Shouldnt it be a chicken ?

Anyways, duck or no duck, this is my first time experimenting royal icing. Believe me or not, after baking for donkey’s years, i have never decorated my cookies with royal icing. I guess my track record of retarded looking pipping works might have to do something with it.

I have used meringue powder for the icing instead of egg whites as i was giving these away and i didn’t want to take any chances with salmonella issues. I gotta admit though, that didn’t taste that great, but it wasnt bad enough to stop me from licking the icing off my fingers as i worked with it.

So while these are not the best looking cookies around, i am glad i decided to embark on the royal adventure on the meringue icing, and now, it doesnt scare me that much anymore.

I clung on to every word on Bake at 350 ‘s instructions on the icing. She is truly the Queen of cookie-dom. So do head over to her site for the most beautiful cookies and the most intricate and creative frostings.

Almond Brownies With Sliced Cheddar

Some of you areprobably wrinkling your nose in disgust at the title.

Brownies with cheddar cheese? Really?

If you have noticed, i really like salt in my dessert. They are like my personal fairy dusts, powerful and magical, and at the rate i am sprinkling them, you can call me a seasoned salt sprinkler.

By using cheddar cheese, i was expecting to introduce the same kind of savoury depth into these brownies.

You might need to use your super sight powers to spot the slice of cheese in here. But it’s there, almost at the bottom of the brownies.

Okay, a word of warning, the next picture might gross you out as i had to practically mince the brownies to reveal the cheese.

Whoops, sorry for the carnage.

While putting cheddar into your dessert may sound foreign, it’s very common here in Indonesia. We sprinkle grated cheese on our cakes,and cookies all the time. And the fact is, the combination works, for me at least, or maybe it’s an acquired taste, since i grew up with it.

But do give this a shot! who knows you might like it too!

Almond Brownies with Sliced Cheddar

(Taken from Sedap Magazine)

150 gr Butter

200 gr Dark Chocolate

3 eggs

125 gr sugar

30 gr AP flour

15 gr cocoa powder

50 gr almond flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

3 tsp almond extract

15 gr sliced almonds (to be sprinkled)

1. Heat butter till melted. Add chocolate and stir  till both are melted and  well combined.

2. In another bowl, beat eggs and sugar till they get slightly thick. Add  the egg-sugar mixture to the chocolate mixture and mix well.

3.   Sift AP flour, cocoa powder, ground almonds and baking powder into the chocolate-egg mixture. Add the almond extract and mix till just combined.

4. Pour half of the batter into a pregreased and prelined (with overhang to lift the brownies easily later)8×8 baking tin. Arrange cheese slices over the batter, the pour the remanining batter over the cheese.

5. Bake at 180 degree Celcius (not F) for 25 minutes or till they are well cooked

6. Slice into squares to serve.

Gingy-Bread Men

When my nephew came into the room squealing “ie ie (auntie), can you make gingy for meeeeee?”, i shot his mom, a blank look.

“Gingy”, my sister explained, “the gingerbread man from Shrek”

Geez, of all the characters in Shrek, it had to be Gingy who made an impression on him.

But then again, I guess i should have counted my luck that he asked for Gingy. Had it been Princess Fiona, or Donkey, i would have thrown in the towel at his request.

Owning a regular gingerbread cutter is one thing, but making Gingy is another. Having googled various images of Gingy, i found that he was a nonstandard gingerbread. In the story, Gingy had his legs broken when Lord Farquar tortured him. Hence, his feet was pointing down instead of upward with stitches at the knees.

Besides the different feet, regular gingerbread also had spindly arms, not quite like Gingy who probably had some time in the gym and had bulkier arms.

So i did a little recontruction. Right after i cut the dough with the cookie cutter, i pushed down the feet, and added a bit of dough into the arms.  

Can you tell the difference?

These are probably not significant differences to us adults, but i guess when you are my nephew, a kid, you tend to get really analytical about the nitty gritty. And the last thing i wanted was to dissapoint him.

For the buttons, i have used blackcurrant chewy gummies. I just cut them into mini sizes and roll them into balls with my fingers. And with the help of a little bit of icing, i was able to attach them to the cookies.

Voila!

Oh, and just for the record, these are not really Gingerbread cookies. I knew that the ginger, honey or various spices wouldnt sit too well with my nephew. These are just regular butter cookies to which i have added chocolate paste for colouring!

For Butter Cookies recipe, Click Here!

And do head over to Diamonds for Desserts, for a clear step by step instructions on how to make Gingy!

Eclairs

I wanted to break away from the monotomy of baking the usual cakes and cookies. Much as i liked baking them, i can see the end users of my bakes losing their interests in what i brought out from my kitchen.

So i journeyed west, and went a little French this morning with the French Eclairs.

Finger shaped choux pastries filled with pastry cream and topped with chocolate.

Before baking, my choux pastries started out sleek and smooth. They were just slightly bigger than regular pencils, only half the lengths.

But, they grew in the oven though, and turned out like these Frankenstein fingers. Fat and ripped.

 Not that i minded of course. Ugly, big, fat fingers was exactly what i was looking for. In fact, they bigger they get, the better, cause it means they got bigger caves in them.

 

Which means you can pipe in more fillings!

Of course, the choice of fillings is completely up to your discretion. I’ve made both vanilla and chocolate pastry cream. Just because majority end users are pro-chocolates!

 

Recipe taken from Ounces and Grams

For Recipe, Click–> Eclairs

Moist Devil’s Foodcake w Mrs Milman’s Chocolate Frosting

Whoever Mrs Milman is, Thank YOU!

Thank you for sharing your wonderful fudge recipe.

It’s been a while since i made a frosted cake, and i was itching to glide my spatula across some creamy, luscious frostings. I know it’s weird but I tend to have all these weird impulse to do something baking related, be it kneading dough, folding eggs, or beating butter.

So i went poking around Martha Stewart’s website for a cake recipe, and an image of a chocolate cake with the glossiest chocolate frosting called to me.

Moist Devil’s Foodcake w Mrs Milman’s Chocolate Frosting, the title says.

So, i went about making the cake, starting with the frosting first, since it needs a cooling time of about two hours.

And i wouldnt shortchange that two hours. The frosting should be thick enough to frost with. It shouldn’t as runny as mayonnaise. Mine worked out quite fine, it got to a consistency slightly thicker than Nutella :). So two hours, people!

Oh, pretty, glossy fudgey frosting!

Unfortunately, it wasn’t anyone’s birthday today (i wished it were!). And much as i wanted to decorate this cake silly, it won’t be justified. So i just did that swirly thing with my spatula, and hope for some rustic charm.

And a couple of  glaced cherry wouldn’t hurt.

So we slice,

Ooops, the frosting in the middle got a bit runny. I don’t know how i could have waited all that two hours for the frosting to thicken, yet not wait  for the cakes to cool. Is it possible for anyone to get dopier than that?!

Anyways, runny frostings or not, we still charge forward with a fork

Yums!

Recipes, pls click!

Moist Devil’s Food Cake

Mrs Milman’s Chocolate Frosting

Garlic Cheddar Rolls

This would be one of the very rare moments when I post something savoury.

A crown of cheddar cheese rolls, topped with sliced cheese and dried herbs. Breakfast fit for the kings, or at least the kings dwelling in my house.

These buns are made from my Rotiboy bun recipe. I wanted to have ultra soft rolls which can remain moist and tender overnight without having to be reheated for breakfast the next day. Because Kings don’t do things like re-heating. I dont even think they know how to work the oven.

As you can see, i have retarded shaping skills. They were supposed to be perfect rounds, not irregularly egg shaped.

Here is one of the weird eggs, haphazardly pulled apart from its circle of friends.

And what’s going on underneath that cheesy exterior?

MORE cheese of course. I absolutely loved the cave the cheese made within each bun.

I used a sliced cheese for each bun. I tore each slice into mini pieces and stuff them into the dough. The cheese will melt, coat the walls of the hollow and turn chewy, making it my favourite part of the bun.

While the buns may remain soft and moist for extended periods of time, these buns taste best when they are served warm. The cheese in them would be in its gooey, semi-molten state when warm. Poor kings, if only they knew how to on the oven.

The buns get brushed with garlic butter the minute they get out of the oven. The butter will ensure the skin of these buns to remain flexible and soft, while the garlic will just enhance the delicious aspect of these buns. Cheese, herbs and garlic. Who can go wrong with that?

For the Bread Dough

Adapted from and Indonesian Cookbook Roti Unyil by Chendawati (Please pardon my poor translation)

Ingredients A

700 gr Bread Flour

300 gr AP Flour

250 gr Sugar

5 Egg Yolks

2 Egg Whites

150ml Evaporated Milk

275 Iced Water

20 gr Instant Yeast

10 gr Bread Softener *

50 gr Milk Powder

Ingredients B

75 gr Butter

75 gr Margarine

50 gr Butter Substitute **

10 gr Bacom (Bread emulsifier) *

15 gr salt

*(  U can omit these if you like, but i think they really helped in making the bread that much softer and moister)

** These are butter flavoured margarine.

1. Combine Ingredients A till the dough stops sticking all over the surface and starts getting tacky and elastic.

2. Gradually add ingredients B and knead till the dough gets so elastic, you are able to stretch it into a thin membrane.

3. Gather the dough into a ball, and leave it covered for its first proofing for about 30 mins.

4. Punch down the dough, and scale the dough into balls weighing 30 grams each. Let them rest for 15 minutes, covered.

5. Roll the dough, fill with sliced cheese, seal, and shape it into rounds.

6. Let it proof for a second time till it doubles in size (60 minutes).

7. Brush the surfaces with some evaporated milk, and put a square slice of cheese over it. Sprinkle with dried herbs.

8. Bake at 160 degree CELCIUS or till cooked. The surface will turn a gorgeous shade of golden brown  (about 20 mins).

9. Pull bread from the oven and brush some melted garlic butter over it.

10. Store in airtight containers.

This post has been submitted to Aspiring Baker #6: Say Cheese, hosted by Jean of needmorenoms. Thanks for hosting Jean!

Nutella Crunch Brownies

You know you made good when people come back for seconds right after they finished their first bars.

These brownies are one of it.

A chewy brownie base is topped with crunchy chocolate rice krispies, held together by chocolate and Nutella.You can of course use the original plain rice krispies. I used the chocolate ones to just re-inforce my excessive personality.

And having Nutella in any of your recipe is like having a latent insurance that your brownies will be in great demand. Trust me, i have done my market research.

I was half expecting the rice krispies to go soggy on me after being soaked in the Chocolate -Nutella mixture. But surprisingly, theystayed lightly crisp.

The chewy and moist brownie base was just of the right structure to support the frostings. You can lift each of these bars up without having the brownie base crumble upon you from the weight of the rice krispies frostings. Yet, they were also soft enough for your knife to slice through with the least resistance.

Like wise for the topping. I didnt refrigerate the brownies as i didnt want problems slicing through the hardened chocolate. But much to my delight, the frosting did set and dry on its own at room temperature resulting in a semi-soft, truffle-like consistency with crunchy bits from the rice krispies.

And i do love a good, dry chocolate surface. They are not as messy and you can easily stack them up together for storage. Not that these would be in storage for long though.

Nutella Crunch Brownies

Recipe taken from Pastry Chef’s Baking 

*(I scaled downthe recipe to fit an 8×8 baking tin in red)

5 ounces unsweetened chocolate, melted and cooled – 84 grams

¾ cup (1 ½ sticks) unsalted butter, softened – 102 grams,

1 ¾ cups sugar – 210 grams

3 eggs – 1 large egg + 1 yolk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup all-purpose flour – 75 grams

1 cup chopped walnuts (optional) – omitted

 

Nutella Crunch Topping

1 ½ cups semisweet chocolate chips – 152 grams dark chocolate

1 cup Nutella – 135 grams

1 tablespoon unsalted butter – 9 grams

1 ½ cups crispy rice cereal – 1 C

1.  Preheat the oven to 350⁰F.  Grease a 9 x 13 x 2  (8x8x4)inch pan or line with foil and spray lightly with nonstick cooking spray.

2.  In a large mixing bowl, combine the melted chocolate and butter and stir until smooth.  Add the sugar and stir with a wooden spoon until well blended. (I double boiled to melt both chocolate and butter)

 Add the eggs and vanilla and mix well.  Mix in the flour and nuts, if using, and stir.  Pour the batter into the prepared pan.

3.  Bake for 30 to 40 minutes, or until the edges appear to be set (the center should still be soft).  Do not overbake.

4.  While the brownies are baking, place the chocolate chips, nutella, and butter in a medium saucepan.  Cook over low heat, stirring constantly until melted.  Remove from heat, add the cereal and mix well.  Allow this to cool for 3 minutes or so.  Spread the mixture evenly over the brownies once they’re baked.  Refrigerate until chilled before cutting. (didnt refrigerate)

Nuts and Seeds Torrones

Never in a million years would i think that i would attempt making something like this,

A chewy vanilla nougat of egg whites and sugar, holding together a medley of nuts, seeds and dried fruits.

Also known as Torrone, this candy can trace its origins to its Italian roots.I know i am being severely out of season here by making this right smack in the middle of April, because these holiday candies are usually served around Christmas.

 It’s okay though, these can be my personal Easter candies.

I came across a bakery selling these nougats a few months ago, and have been breaking the bank buying them regularly to get my sugar-nut fix. Despite that, i wasn’t anywhere near to attempting them as i have heard numerous sticky messes that these candies brought upon its creator. Especially if they came unarmed with edible wafer papers. 

You can’t really serve these torrones without its wafer clothing, cause they will never get out of the pan, and they will probably stick to any and every surface they meet.

Despite all those warnings, this unwafered creator was unwavered.

Actually, my turning point came when i received a bag of salted almonds. I cant think of anything better to use these almonds up. Moreover, what’s a few egg whites and sugar in comparison to the bank breaking nougats i have been buying for months anyways?

So i rolled up my sleeves and gathered my hair in a tight ponytail ( pls do this, the last thing you want is gooey egg whites getting in your hair) and braced myself for the rocky road ahead.

 

As mentioned, I couldn’t find any of the edible papers which traditionally cover the surfaces of the torrones. So, i’ve decided on a coat of white chocolate, melted and spread on a pre-greased and pre-lined tin.

You want to have the base of your lining with overhang too. Mine was stretched all the way to cover the walls of the tin. This makes the torrone to be pulled out easily.

Over the white chocolate, you pile on the cooked torrone complete with its nutty company.

I would gladly have taken pictures of the process of heating up the sugar and egg whites here. But really, the window of temperature at which the cooking sugar should be poured into the egg whites is so critical that i couldn’t really afford to have my attention diverted to my camera.

But i can at least show you my nuts (no pun intended), can i?

A jumble of confused salted almonds, pistaschios, sunflower and pumpkin seeds and dried cranberries all thrown together.

Next, you want to cut out a piece of parchment, the size of the tin base and spread some melted white chocolate on it.

By placing this facedown over your torrone, this will act as the top “clothing” layer.

You then chill the whole tin for a bit for the chocolate to harden, then you can peel you parchment like so

Lift the torrone by its overhang,

And cut into bars

That wasnt too bad was it?

Did i convince you yet?

So go on, make this Christmas favourite on Easter,

Nuts and Seeds Torrones

1/2 C sugar

1/4 C + 1.5 TBS Corn Syrup

1/4 C Water

Pinch of Salt

1 Egg White

1 TBS Vanilla extract

1.5 C of Mixed Seeds, Nuts, and Dried Fruits 

Some white chocolate, melted

Grease your tin (I used an 8×3 ) lightly with cooking oil and line the base of your tin with at least two of the sides extended (You will use this to pull out your torrone).

Melt some white chocolate and spread it over the pre-lined base

Combine sugar, corn syrup , water and salt in a saucepan, and cook over low to medium heat, stirring occasionally, till sugar dissolves. Attach a candy thermometer at the side of the pan, and let the sugar boil away without stirring till it reaches a temperature of 315 F.

While waiting for the sugar to come to temperature, put the egg white in a clean bowl.

With an electric mixer, whisk your egg white on medium speed till it reaches a stiff peak but not dry consistency.

When the sugar reaches 315F ( I waited for the sugar temperature to reach 290 F before i started whisking my egg white. Whisked egg white which has been left too long will separate), pour  the sugar mixture into the egg white while whisking continuously.

Continue beating the mixture till it gets heavy and gloopy and the bowl gets cool to the touch. Beat in the vanilla extract. Scrape the sides of the bowl and pour in the nuts and seeds. Mix till well combined.

Scrape the mixture into the prepared tin with the chocolate base (Do this quickly, the egg whites hardens further as it cools). Spread the mixture evenly across the tin. Set aside.

Cut out a piece of parchment the exact same size as the base of the tin. Spread some melted white chocolate over it and place it face down into the tin, over the torrone.Press the parchment down making sure that every of the torrone surface makes contact with the chocolate.

Chill in the refrigerator till chocolate hardens. Lift up the torrone from the tin.

Cut into bars and enjoy!

Store in the refrigerator for up to a week.

Ganache Dipped Chocolate Chip Cookies

Any chocolate chip cookie with brown sugar in it is by default a winner in my book. But by having a quick dip in a chocolate ganache pool, these were bigger winners!

Okay, i admit, these are a bit indulgent.

I would have made these a long long time ago if it weren’t for the 2 hours chilling time. I do most of my bakings in the morning, and the 2 hours chilling time is not exactly convenient in my daily mad morning rush.

I could have made the dough the night before , but i don’t like the idea of going to the kitchen and start pulling out my mixers, mixing bowls, and other related cookie making kitchen utensils in the evenings.

So, finally, this morning, i woke up extra early, and get myself a 2 hours head start just for these. And boy, was it worth it.

Oh, I really wouldn’t advise you to skip the chilling, cause without it, the dough would be too soft to handle.

So anyways, instead of dumping chocolate chips into the batter, individual scoops of unbaked cookie doughs were rolled into the choco chips . This caused the underside of the cookies to be delightfully overpopulous with said chocolate chips 🙂 Even i myself was pretty surprised.

While the cookies were deliciously chewy, moist and worthy of the classic american chocolate chip cookie title, the ganache wouldnt completely dry out. And since i was bringing them to work ( i  cant trust myself to leave them at home), stacking them together was quite a messy business.

So if you were planning to take these on a trip outside your home, i would suggest reducing the cream from the chocolate ganache. And unless you have some Herculean willpower, i woud really really suggest you bring these out of the house asap!

For Recipe,  Click:  HERE! Ganache Dipped Chocolate Chip Cookies

 

Buns, buns, buns

Besides the common round buns, these are some of the other shapes that the Asian sweet bread buns take form

The caterpillar buns

For instructions on how to shape these buns, head over to Happy Home Baking

and,

and the sakura buns. I don’t have a reference on how to shape the sakura buns. But it is pretty easy. You just filling in the dough as per usual, flatten it a bit and using a knife make 5 mini slits around the circumferece bread at regular intervals before you leave it to proof.

Both of the fillings for these buns are made with store bought red bean paste, while the recipe for the dough is the same dough i used for my rotiboy.

The recipe that never fails to produce the softest, and moistest breads.

 

Butterscotch Praline Cream Pie

When i first saw the name Butterscotch Praline Cream Pie, i was very vague on what was going on.

Frankly speaking, i don’t know my butterscotch from my toffees, or my toffees from my caramels. All i know is that sugar cooking is involved.

So to set things straight, here goes!

Caramel is a beige to dark-brown confection made by heating any of a variety of sugars

Toffee is a confection made by caramelizing sugar or molasses (creating inverted sugar) along with butter, and occasionally flour

Butterscotch is similar to toffee, but for butterscotch the sugar is boiled to the soft crack stage, and not hard crack as with toffee

-Thanks Master Wikipedia !

Right, now that we are all a little bit smarter, let’s get back to the matters on hands.

Butterscotch Praline Cream Pie– A tender, flakey pie crust containing a deep, smokey butterscotch custard.

Let’s start with the pie crust. A buttery patee brisee with a scant amount of sugar.

And you know something, between all that rolling, chilling and blind baking, I am never one to agree with the term “easy as pie”.

They should really change it to “Easy as pie eating“. That i can definitely relate to.

So anyways, into this crust, i pile on the butterscotch custard.

I met with a bit of a technical difficulty with this butterscotch. It was not the lush luscious custard that i was expecting.

If you can see it closely, it is quite lumpy. They are not really serious and significant, but they are still visibly noticeable.Thankfully, the sandiness didnt present itself when u spoon the custard into your mouth. I suspect it’s globules of fats from the cream which was not well incorporated as i poured it into the hot caramel. Thankfully it was not intolerably rough, but it was enough to make me grit my teeth (no pun intended).

Grits or no grits, i soldiered on to the whipping cream, which was pleasantly folded with praline.

Praline – a family of confections made from nuts and sugar syrup.

Although the suggested nut in the recipe was hazelnut, i used good ole peanuts. Just because that’s the only nuts i have.

I wouldn’t advise on skipping the whipping cream to save the calories though. The lightness of the whipped cream was so pleasant against the dark, smoky butterscotch custard. A good balance of complex and simple flavours. But then again, i wouldnt skip on the praline either, just cause it gives a good crunch.

And so there you have it, A crash course on toffee, butterscotch, caramel, and a Butterscotch Praline Cream pie!

Taken from Martha Stewart

Ingredients

• All-purpose flour, for surface
• 1/2 recipe Pate Brisee
• 3 ounces (6 tablespoons) unsalted butter
• 1 cup dark-brown sugar
• 2 cups heavy cream
• 1/4 cup cornstarch
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups whole milk
• 4 large egg yolks
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• Crushed Hazelnut Praline

Directions

1. On a lightly floured work surface, roll pate brisee to 1/8-inch thickness. Fit into a 9-inch pie dish. Trim edges, leaving a 1-inch overhang. Tuck overhang under dough so edges are flush with rim, and crimp edges. Lightly prick bottom of dough with a fork. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.
2. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line dough with parchment, and fill with pie weights or dried beans. Bake until edges begin to turn gold, 15 to 18 minutes. Carefully remove weights and parchment. Bake until crust is golden brown, 12 to 15 minutes. Let cool completely on a wire rack. (Crust can be stored overnight.)
3. Melt butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat until butter browns. Stir in sugar until it dissolves, about 5 minutes. Slowly pour 1 cup cream down the side of the pan, stirring constantly until smooth (caramel will bubble). Remove from heat.
4. Whisk cornstarch, salt, and milk in a small bowl until smooth. Whisk into butter mixture until well combined. Cook over medium-high heat, stirring constantly, until bubbling and thick, about 7 minutes total (about 2 minutes after it comes to a boil.)
5. Whisk yolks in a medium bowl until combined. Pour in milk mixture in a slow, steady stream, whisking until completely incorporated. Return mixture to the saucepan, and cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until it returns to a boil, 1 to 2 minutes.
6. Immediately remove from heat, and stir in vanilla. Let custard cool in saucepan on a wire rack, whisking occasionally, for 10 minutes.
7. Pour custard into piecrust. Press plastic wrap directly on surface of custard. Refrigerate until custard filling is chilled and firm, at least 4 hours (or overnight).
8. Whisk remaining 1 cup cream until stiff peaks form. Reserve 2 tablespoons praline, and fold remaining praline into cream. Spread cream over pie, and sprinkle reserved praline on top. Serve immediately.

Crushed Hazelnut Praline

Ingredients

• Vegetable-oil cooking spray
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon light corn syrup
• 1 tablespoon water
• Salt
• 1/3 cup hazelnuts, toasted, skins rubbed off with a damp cloth

Directions

1. Coat a rimmed baking sheet with cooking spray. Heat sugar, corn syrup, water, and a pinch of salt in a small saucepan over medium-high heat, stirring constantly until sugar dissolves. Continue to cook, without stirring, until deep amber. Remove from heat, stir in nuts, and spread evenly on baking sheet. Let cool completely on sheet on a wire rack.
2. Break praline into medium pieces, and transfer to a resealable plastic bag. Using a rolling pin, crush into pea-size pieces. (Crushed praline can be stored for up to 1 month.)

Brewer’s Blondies

I know i am pushing my luck in posting this,

because this is my third and yet another malt/whopper treat.

Okay, you can throw your shoe at me now. I deserve it.

But in my defense, i could have just let this slide, and not blog about it. But some things are just worth the risk, and trust me, this blondie is worth that risk.

Made of only brown sugar excluding white sugar, this blondie is the very representation of the terms “moist” and “chewy”. This is the kind of fudgy, dense brownie that you think is only achievable when you add chocolate into. And i mean lots of chocolate.

But this came along, bearing all the said qualities of a perfect (at least in my opinion) brownie without any chocolate. Except for the chocolate chips of course, but that doesnt count.  

Malt powder and Whopper malted milk balls joined in for the ride. The malt taste was a little too subtle. In fact, i don’t even know if i would miss it at all if it weren’t included. However, the whoppers were fun guys, they added some crispy excitement to each bite.

But  still undisputedly, the real winner for this blondie is still the brown sugar, in all its aromatic and fragrant glory.

Anyways, like i said, i am probably risking the title of a one trick pony blog with my triple streak on Malt powders, but please make this, i am sure your judgement will change.

Brewer’s Blondies

Taken from Sweet Pea’s Kitchen

Ingredients:

• 2 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons malted milk powder
• 14 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened, cut into 1-inch cubes
• 1 3/4 cups firmly packed dark brown sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 3/4 cup malted milk balls (like Whoppers or Maltesers), coarsely chopped in a food processor
• 3/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips
• 3/4 cup toasted walnuts, chopped

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter the bottom and sides of a 9-by-13-inch baking pan.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder, salt and malted milk powder together.
3. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter and brown sugar on medium speed until completely combined. Scrape down the bowl, add the eggs and vanilla, and beat until combined.
4. Add the flour mixture in two batches until just combined. Add the malted milk balls, chocolate chips and walnuts and beat until just combined, about 10 seconds. The mixture will be thick. Turn the mixture out into the prepared pan and use an offset spatula to spread it evenly.
5. Bake in the center of the oven for 25 to 30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the blondie comes out clean.
6. Transfer to a wire rack and let cool for 20 minutes.

Source: Baked: New Frontiers In Baking

Malted Whooper Drops

I am sorry for the back to back post on malt/whooper cookies.

But you know the thing with malt powder and humidity? They don’t react too well with each other. They form these lumpy nuggets after a while.

I guess i could have fixed it with a tight, air and water-proof cannister. But i just didn’t have spare empty ones hanging around. So please bear with me as i try to use up my box of Ovaltine.

So anyways, today’s menu is Chocolate Malted Whooper Drops.

That’s a long name, but i am sure you can figure it out.

A drop cookie with malt and cocoa powder,

and topped with chocolate chunks and whoopers.

Oh, and cocoa and malt powder?

They work! They impart such a wonderful smoky, rich flavour in these cookies. I am tempted to introduce malt and chocolate as the next dynamic duo, right next to peanut butter and chocolate.

I would describe these cookies as cakey, but since they are generously horded with an army of big, boxy chocolate chunks, it’s inevitable that each bite was accompanied by something moist and fudgy.

Who can resist to that?

My mind subconsciously reached for them as i was trying to take pictures. I think i must have eaten at least, 3, or maybe 5 or 6, cause at the end of the photoshoot, i was feeling uncannily full.

 i have also planted my chopped malted milk balls onto each individual unbaked cookie dough drops, instead of mixing them into the cookie batter. Combining them into the batter makes them disappear, and i think i much prefer them to be visible.

Chocolate Malted Whopper Drops

(Taken from Sweet Pea’s Kitchen)

Ingredients:

• 1 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 cup malted milk powder
• 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 stick plus 3 tbsp butter (11 tablespoons), at room temperature
• 2/3 cup granulated sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup whole milk
• 2 cups (6 ounces) Whoppers, coarsely chopped
• 6 oz. bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone mats.
2. In a large bowl, sift together flour, malted milk powder, cocoa, baking powder, and salt; set aside.
3. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter and sugar together on medium speed for about 3 minutes, until thoroughly combined. Add the eggs one at a time, beating for 1 minute after each addition. Beat in the vanilla until combined. Add half of the dry ingredients and beat at low speed just until combined. Mix in the milk, then the remaining dry ingredients, mixing until just combined. With the mixer on low, mix in the malted milk balls and chopped chocolate.
4. Drop the dough by rounded tablespoonfuls on to the sheets, leaving about 2 inches of space between each. Bake for 11 to 13 minutes, rotating the baking sheets front to back and top to bottom halfway through the baking time. Let the cookies rest for 2 minutes before using a wide metal spatula to transfer them to the racks to cool to room temperature.

Malted Chocolate Tart

This tart is a cookie.

Or shall i say that this is a cookie baked in a tart pan?

A jumbo sized cookie the size of a skillet, and kicked up a notch with some malt powder.

The malt powder in the cookie is a welcoming fresh take than the usual chocolate and vanilla cookie. It gave the cookie such different depth and flavour.

And since it’s been a while since i had a malted milkshake, or malted anything, i dont think i could have put a finger on what could have brought about the familiarly comforting taste.

And the thing with malt powders, they are salted. We all love that bit of salt in our desserts don’t we? 🙂

These cookies are frosted with melted chocolate, and then topped with chopped malted milk balls. The malted milk balls were so delightful. They added a nice crunch to the cookie, and i really liked how it made the cookies look more interesting. I added Maraschino cherries too,  just for aesthetical pleasure.

Oh, u don’t want to overbake this. These are best when they are soft baked, just so that you can easily slice into them.

Malted Milk Cookie Tart

Taken from FoodBabbles

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 cup malted milk powder

1/2 cup sugar

1 teaspoon (scant) coarse kosher salt

3/4 cup unsalted butter, cut into 1-inch pieces, room temperature

3/4 cup bittersweet chocolate chips (do not exceed 61% cacao)

1/2 cup malted milk balls, coarsely chopped

– Preheat oven to 325°F. In a food processor, pulse the flour, malted milk powder, sugar, and coarse salt. Add the butter and pulse until moist clumps form.

– Transfer dough to work surface; gather into ball. Press evenly onto bottom of 9-inch-diameter tart pan with removable bottom.

– Bake crust until evenly golden brown, about 25 minutes. Scatter chocolate chips over; let stand 5 minutes to soften…

…then spread melted chocolate over hot crust in the well that forms as center sinks.

– Sprinkle malted milk balls over.

– Cool completely. Remove tart from pan; cut into wedges.

– Enjoy!

Zebra Cake

Zebra cakes are very much like the more commonly seen swirled cake. In both cases,  two toned batters, usually chocolate and vanilla meet, mingle, and became best friends.

 

 The only difference between the zebra and the swirled cake,  is in how the two best friends hooked up.

In swirled cakes, the two batters meet spontaneously. They interact carelessly with each other, creating a swirly effect that was haphazard and unpredictable. The resultant effect is no less pretty than the zebra cake, that is of course considering the swirler is not me competent enough for the job.

The pattern in the zebra on the other hand, is more structured. The batters are poured alternately in specific amounts to get that orderly, systematic zebra-ish pattern.  The kind of methodical operation that is not exactly in my blood. Geez, my own handwriting is barely legible.

Anyways, back to the cake,

To check for done-ness,

Ah, good ole’ skewer test. Where would we be without it?

Whistling clean, just the way i like it 🙂

You couldn’t imagine how excited i was to slice through this cake. This is one of the incidents where the real thing couldn’t quite compare to the spoof. I dont remember being this excited to see the authentic zebra horse on my first trip to the zoo.

Moment of truth time. 

Honestly, i wasn’t very much impressed. This is definitely one of the prettiest zebras in the stable. Too much black, too little white. Too little spacing between the black and white. Plus the swirls are kinda squiggly.

Oh wells, let me claim the customary “A” for the effort at the very least.

So let’s get horsing around!

Zebra Cake

(Taken from AJ’s Cooking Secrets)

Ingredients
4 large eggs, at room temperature
1 cup (8 oz / 250 g) granulated sugar
1 cup (8 fl oz / 250 ml) milk, at room temperature
1 cup (8 fl oz / 250 ml) oil (corn, vegetable or canola)
2 cups (10 oz / 300 g) all-purpose flour
1/3 teaspoon vanilla powder
1 tablespoon baking powder
2 tablespoons dark cocoa powder

Directions
1. Preheat the oven to 350F (180C).

2. In a large mixing bowl, combine eggs and sugar. Using a hand-held electric mixer or wire whisk beat until the mixture is creamy and light in color

3. Add milk and oil, and continue beating until well blended.

4. In a separate bowl, combine and mix flour, vanilla powder and baking powder. Gradually add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients and beat just until the batter is smooth and the dry ingredients are
thoroughly incorporated. (DO NOT OVERBEAT to prevent air pockets from forming in the batter.

5. Divide the mixture into 2 equal portions. Keep one portion plain. Add cocoa powder into another and mix well.

6. Lightly grease the pan with oil. If you don’t have non-stick baking pan, grease whatever pan you have then line it with parchment paper (baking paper).

7. The most important part is assembling the cake batter in a baking pan. This is what you do. Scoop 3 heaped tablespoons of plain batter (you can also use a ladle that would hold 3 tablespoons) into the middle of the baking pan. Then scoop 3 tablespoons of cocoa batter and pour it in the center on top of the plain batter. IMPORTANT! Do not stop and wait until the previous batter spreads – KEEP GOING! Do not spread the batter or tilt the pan to distribute the mixture. It will spread by itself and fill the pan gradually. Continue alternating the batters until you finish them.

8. Bake in the oven for about 40 minutes. Do not open the oven door at least the first 20 minutes or the cake will shrink and will not rise. To check if the cake is ready, insert a toothpick into the center. It should come out clean when ready. Remove from the oven. Immediately run a small thin knife around the inside of the pan to loosen the cake, then invert the cake onto a cooking rack. Turn the cake back over and let cool. You can sprinkle the top of the cake with some powdered (confectioner’s) sugar or leave it plain.

Saltine Cracker Toffee

How would you categorize these?

Are they cookies?

 

Or more like Candies?

I say candies.

Growing up, i have always had a preference over candies with a little crunch on it. The crunch could be anything from  rice krispies studded candy bars, or even the cookie bits from Hershey’s cookies and cream chocolates.

These saltine cracker toffee, with the saltine cracker bases promised just the crunch that i was looking for in my candies. And of course, with the word “salt” in “saltine”, these crackers are savoury. I am a religious dessert salt sprinkler, so you can pretty much guess how this candy is totally up my alley.

So there we have it. Savoury saltine crackers  blanketed with toffee and given another coat of chocolate.

Do you think you are ready for that?

Using dark brown sugar instead of the regular white, the toffee colour came out a perfect amber. The rich colour was reflective of the stronger caramel, and buttery taste. Everything was good, except for the fact that you gotta wrestle a bit with the toffee. The toffee is slightly sticky. Just slightly though, nothing major.

So the next time i am making these, i will be sure to practice a little restraint, and cook my sugar just a little longer before i pull it out of the oven. I would also wanna spread the toffee just a bit thinner. I think reaching the hard candy stage and a thinner layer of the  toffee would give it the light, brittle snap rather than a chewy one that was kinda tacky. It will at least be something that my dentist would approve of a little bit more.

So till then, these will have to do. And of course, let’s not forget my crazy fixation over the extra salt over the chocolate. I wouldn’t even consider it as being optional.

Saltine Cracker Toffee

Taken from the girl who ate everything

40 salted saltine crackers or enough to line your pan
1 cup unsalted butter
1 cup packed brown sugar
2 cups milk chocolate or semisweet chocolate chips
(optional) 3/4 cup chopped pecans

*You can either use salted butter or salted saltines but not both. I used salted crackers and unsalted butter in this one.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees and line a cookie sheet or jelly roll pan with saltine crackers in a single layer. 
 
In a small pot combine sugar and butter and bring to a boil. Once mixture is at a boil, continue boiling for 3 minutes. Mixture should be a deep caramel color. Immediately pour over saltines and spread to cover crackers completely.

Bake at 400 degrees 5 to 6 minutes. It will get all bubbly. Remove from oven and sprinkle chocolate chips over the top and let sit a couple of minutes to melt. Sometimes I melt the chocolate chips in the microwave for about 1 minute then spread it on. Spread melted chocolate and top with chopped nuts if desired. Cool completely and break into pieces.

Cappuccino Meringue Cookies

I gotta be honest with these,

While they look cute as buttons, these Cappuccino Meringue Cookies  didnt exactly rock my world.

Because in my opinion, although the cookies were aromatic enough with cappuccino powder in it, they didn’t have the melt-in-your-mouth butter cookies texture.

They were the type of  cookies your mom would force upon you to keep your tummy filled rather than the fancy soft baked, chocolate chip studded ones that would satisfy your sweet tooth. These are practical sturdy cookies.

Thank goodness for the meringue filling – sweet egg whites beaten senseless with sugar. It was really the lifesaver for the cookies.

The recipe even foresaw our pain in the messiness involved in most frosted cookies, be it sandwiched or as a topping. It was sharp enough to include the extra step of baking the filled cookies to dry out the meringue.

Just so you can stack them up, roll them around or shake them about in the cookie jar and they will still look as perfect.

Speaking of cookie jars, i thought these would be one of those cookies which would last forever (and ever) in the cookie jar. I thought i would have the problem ridding these cookies before they eventually stale and meet the trashcan.

Thank goodness i have a brother, a true problem solver.

He emptied the cookie jar, in one sitting. I think he must be really hungry.

Or maybe these cookies werent really that bad, and i was just being a demanding nitpicker.

Cappuccino Meringue Cookies

Taken from a free Cookie insert from Saji (an Indonesian food magazine)

150 gr Margarine (I used Butter)

100 gr Icing Sugar

1 Egg White

1 Sachet (25 grams) Cappuccino premix powder, dissolved in 1 TBS hot water (set aside to cool)

225 gr AP

25 gr CornFlour

1/2 tsp Baking Powder

Meringue Filling

1 Egg White

150 gr Icing Sugar

1/4 tsp Lemon Juice (I omitted this)

20 gr Chocolate Rice

Directions:

For the Cookies

1. Beat margarine and icing sugar till creamy (about 1 min). Add the egg yolk and the dissolved cappuccino mixture. Beat till well oombined

2. Sift in the AP, cornflour and baking powder. Mix till just combined.

3. Roll cookie dough into 1 inch sized balls, then flatten them with a fork on a pre-lined and greased baking sheet.

4.  Bake at 150 degree Celcius (not F) till they get cooked (about 25 mins). Set aside to cool

5. Take a piece of the cookie, frost it with the meringue filling and stack another cookie over the filling.

6. Bake the sandwiched cookie in the oven for another 3 mins or till the meringue dries.

For the Meringue Filling

1. Beat the egg white till it forms soft peaks. Gradually add the icing sugar and beat till it gets really thick. Add in the lemon juice, and beat till they are well combined. Fold in the chocolate rice.

Rotiboys

What’s the weird saucer looking thing on my plate?

Commonly known as “rotiboys” or “mexican buns”, these UFO looking things took the world by storm quite a few years ago. Most of the people living in Asia would probably need no introduction to these, but for those of you who are unfamiliar, these are actually pillow soft Asian buns with a slightly crispy, coffee scented topping.

In fact, if i were to describe them, these rotiboys are like buns with a piped cookie topping.

They are usually filled with diced unsalted butter. But i decided to stray and filled mine with chocolate… again ( this blog is getting too predictable isn’t it?)

The name  “Rotiboy” is actually a brand which made this type of buns famous, and soon after, the name got attached to the product, just like how tissues are sometimes called “kleenex”

Of course, after seeing the success of Rotiboy,  every other family member wanted a piece of that fame, and names like “mama buns” or “roti papa” came about.

Not that i mind of course, i find that most of these replicas are almost as good as the original Rotiboy.

And this happens to be one of those replicas!

Crispy, cookie skin covering a soft and moist bread with a chocolate filling.

Or can i call it the “Roti Girls”?

RotiBoys

For the Bread Dough

Adapted from and Indonesian Cookbook Roti Unyil by Chendawati (Please pardon my poor translation)

Ingredients A

700 gr Bread Flour

300 gr AP Flour

250 gr Sugar

5 Egg Yolks

2 Egg Whites

150ml Evaporated Milk

275 Iced Water

20 gr Instant Yeast

10 gr Bread Softener *

50 gr Milk Powder

Ingredients B

75 gr Butter

75 gr Margarine

50 gr Butter Substitute

10 gr Bacom (Bread emulsifier) *

15 gr salt

*( I think U can omit this if you like, but i think this really helped in making the bread texture, making it that much softer and moister)

1. Combine Ingredients A till the dough stops sticking all over the surface and starts getting tacky and elastic.

2. Gradually add ingredients B and knead till the dough gets so elastic, you are able to stretch it into a thin membrane skin.

3. Gather the dough into a ball, and leave it covered for its first proofing for about 30 mins.

4. Punch down the dough, and scale the dough into balls weighing 30 grams each. Let them rest for 15 minutes, covered.

5. Roll the dough, fill with chocolate filling, and seal it in.

6. Let it proof for a second time till it doubles in size (60 minutes).

7. Pipe toppings onto the surface of the unbaked dough

8.  Bake at 200 degree CELCIUS till the surface looks crispy and brown (about 10 mins)

 

For the Chocolate Filling

20 gr Cocoa Powder

30 gr Milk Powder

100 gr Icing Sugar

100 gr Margarine

1/2 tsp Vanilla essence

Mix all ingredients together till well combined.

 

For the Coffee Topping

50 gr Buter

50 gr Margarine

100 gr Icing Sugar

100 ml Egg whites

120 gr Cake Flour

20 gr Milk Powder

1 TBS Coffee Paste

 

Mix all ingredients together till they are well combined.