Fluffy Cookies

I finally have time to bake!! YESH! After studying for 3 months, then exam plus getting the flu, totally crazy..! My husband suddenly wanted these soft cookies I made ages ago, so I made them for him. I just realised now how yummy they are because they are so soft and almost cake-like. I call them my Fluffy Cookies. I don't remember where I found the recipe though... it was a long time ago :)

Fluffy Cookies
Makes 18


1/2 cup butter (room temp) - this is equivalent to approx 113g
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2 eggs
2 1/4 cup unsifted all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt (don't use this if you are using salted butter)
2 cups chocolate chips or chopped up cooking chocolates


Note: I normally reduce each of the sugars by about 2 tablespoons


1. Cream first 3 ingredients until light and fluffy, add vanilla, add eggs and beat well.
2. Combine flour, baking soda and salt in a separate bowl. Gradually add to creamed mixture and beat well. Stir in chocolates.
3. Divide into 9 equal sized balls (about a round soup spoon size), place on cookie sheet and press lightly until they're about 2cm high
4. Bake for 10-12 minutes or until lightly browned in a 190C preheated oven.
5. Cool slightly, remove from cookie sheet and place on cooling rack.

Crème Brûlée

I've been wanting to post this for a long time, but I keep forgetting...

Anyway, I lost the recipe the last time I made it and this is what I can remember. I'm pretty sure of everything except the sugar. But then again, always adjust the sugar to your own liking. I never really like my desserts too sweet!

This is by far my favourite dessert!

Crème Brûlée
Makes 8

600 ml heavy cream
5 large egg yolks (size 8) or 6 small egg yolks (size 6) --> approx. 1 egg yolk per 100ml heavy cream
1/4 cup sugar -> adjust this!
1/2 tsp vanilla essence
icing sugar as needed for topping

1. Whisk yolks with sugar until creamy and light in colour.
2. Heat cream + vanilla in saucepan until just under boil.
3. Temper egg yolks then put yolks into saucepan.
4. Put back on heat constantly whisking, until a little lumpy.

5. Put tea towel into roasting pan, put ramekins on tea towel.
6. Pour mixture into ramekins. Put roasting pan in oven rack with rack sticking out of oven.
7. Pour boiling water into the roasting pan halfway up ramekins.
8. Cook for 40mins, 170C

Once the ramekins cools down, put into the fridge until ready to serve.

9. Place about 1mm of icing sugar on the cooled crème brûlée
10. Either use a blow torch (if you want to eat it cold) or place in a grill oven (if you want a warm dessert) until the icing sugar is browned but not too burnt (as pictured). Use your judgement here, keep an eye on it if you put it into the grill!


Ref: many sources, I adjusted and made it my own :)

Mrs Higgins Replica

Found this recipe online - very quick search I must say! Everyone loves Mrs Higgins cookies!!! It tastes just like Mrs Higgins cookies (ate one fresh from the oven 10 mins ago)... you can change the recipe to suit your favourite :) e.g. white choc + macadamia instead of just choc chips YUM

I halved (as below) the original recipe to try it first... Removed the salt because I used salted butter... And reduced the sugar...

It's very quick to make, everything you have in your standard pantry... so make it now!

Mrs Higgins Replica for Chocolate Chip Cookies

160-170C

Makes 10 - 12

1 cup flour

1/4 tsp baking soda

85g butter, melted

1/4 cup packed brown sugar

1/4 cup white sugar

1/2 tbs vanilla extract

1 egg yolk

1/2 egg white

1 cup chopped chocolate

1. Sift and mix flour and baking soda, set aside

2. Mix butter and sugars until well blended

3. Add eggs and vanilla to butter sugar mix until light & creamy

4. Add sifted ingredients to the butter mix until just blended

5. Add chopped chocolate to cookie dough

6. Put in fridge for 15mins or more

7. Spoon into baking tray (lined with baking sheet) 5cm apart

8. Take out after 15-17 mins in oven (will be very soft but it will set out of the oven) then cool on wire rack once you can handle them.

Ref: http://nzfavouriterecipe.co.nz/recipes/desserts/317-best-big-fat-chewy-mouthwatering-chocolate-chip-cookies

Basic Doughnut Recipe

I made this on Friday and they lasted until Sunday... got a little dryer but they still tasted good!! So I will post this recipe.. although I will not post the glaze recipe that I used because it turned out too sweet... It's easy enough to make glaze anyway!

Tip: make sure you have enough time to make this. It is very time consuming and needs a lot of patience! I think it took me 3 hours on my first try :)

This recipe makes about 15 doughnuts. Some say it tastes like Krispy Kreme but I wouldn't have a clue....

Oh and sorry I forgot to take a picture :p


Basic Doughnut Recipe


1x 8g pack of active dry yeast
2tbs warm water
3/4 cup luke warm milk
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 egg (I used a size 6 egg)
2tbs+2tsp shortening (i.e. butter/margarine)
2 1/2 cups flour
oil for frying (about 2cm deep)


1. Sprinkle yeast over warm water, stand for 5 minutes (or longer) until foamy.

2. In a large bowl, mix together yeast mix, milk, sugar, salt, eggs, shortening and 1 cup of the flour.

3. Mix for a few minutes at low speed or using wooden spoon. Add flour 1/4 cup at a time until dough no longer stick to the bowl.

4. Knead for 5 minutes until smooth and elastic. Don't worry, it's ok if it's a little sticky to your fingers :)

5. Place dough in a greased bowl, cover loosely with a tea towel and place somewhere warm. I just set my oven at the lowest setting (50 degrees C) and stand until dough size doubles and when you touch it, the indentation remains. It took me about 45mins. Don't turn off, you'll need it again soon.

6. Turn dough into a floured surface. Gently roll out to about 1.5cm thickness. Have a tray lined with baking paper sprinkled with flour ready. Cut using doughnut cutter or anything you have available (I used a mug for the outer cut, and a bottle lid for the hole). Transfer doughnuts onto tray.

7. Let doughnuts rise again to double (I put it back into the oven for about 15mins)

8. Once doughnuts are ready, heat oil to medium-low heat. It may take a while so be patient! You can test the oil using doughnut holes :)

9. Be careful not to deflate them when transferring into the oil. Get your own flow going - I just used my hand to transfer, then used tongs to flip and remove. It should only take 10 seconds on each side to cook these doughnuts so watch them carefully otherwise they will burn or just get too dark. Cool on wire rack.

10. It is a good time to make glazing while the doughnuts are cooling. Don't glaze them while hot, glaze will just melt.....


Ref: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Crispy-and-Creamy-Doughnuts/Detail.aspx

Chicken & Salty Egg Fried Rice

A few nights ago, this is what we had for dinner. Very simple, very easy and very yummy!!

Chicken & Salty Egg Fried Rice


Rice for about 4 people (leftovers)
250g chicken (cut into small cubes)
2 cloves garlic

2-3 shallots

chillies (optional)

2x eggs
1x cooked salty egg (roughly mashed)

2-3 tablespoons sweet soy sauce

cornflour to lightly coat chicken

salt & pepper

1. Chop finely garlic, shallots (and chillies) and set aside

2. Heat up some oil and cook the eggs scrambled and set aside

3. Once chicken is chopped up, add a bit of salt and pepper, then coat lightly with cornflour.

4. Heat up some more oil and cook the garlic/shallot mix until garlic is slightly browned. Add chicken and cook until browned.

5. Add mashed salty egg, scrambled eggs, rice, salt & pepper, soy sauce.

6. Mix everything until soy sauce is even throughout.

7. Serve with slices of cucumber/tomatoes and sprinkle some fried shallots to garnish.

Ref: http://noreen-homecooking.blogspot.com/2009/03/nasi-goreng-telur-asin.html

Gnocchi

Just tried a gnocchi recipe today and eating it as I'm writing this blog! :)

Gnocchi is a form of pasta... I think... hahahhaha.. nevertheless I love it and I think I should eat it more often!! I first tried it when a friend invited my husband and I over for dinner. They bought the gnocchi and it tasted really good. Then one day I bought a pack from the supermarket and it tasted awful...... sigh....

A year (or so) later, I got curious. How do they make gnocchi? Looked around on the internet - found a few recipes... Now that I know it is so easy to make, I won't need to buy it from the supermarket :)

I read in a few sites that adding egg will make it heavy. So I tried the one without. The simplest one I can find! This recipe serves 2-3. Adjust as needed.

Simple Gnocchi


500g potatoes
140g plain flour (approx)
pinch salt


1. Cook potatoes whole - either boil, steam or bake.

2. Once cooked, peel the skin. Easiest way is to hold the potato using a clean tea towel and using a small knife.

3. Mash potatoes (or use a potato ricer) until even with no lumps. Fluff up with a fork.

Tip:

Make sure the potato is not mushy. What I did was put it in the microwave for a minute and air out the steam. I did this a couple times - or until the potato looks fluffy. They say baking the potatoes are best - no water needed.

4. Add approx 3/4 of the flour to the fluffy potatoes. Knead and add more flour as it all comes together.

5. Stop adding flour when dough is no longer sticky

6. Dust some flour on surface and take a handful of dough. Roll dough into a long, 1.5cm thick log. Cut into bite sized pieces.

7. Depending on your time constraints, you can shape these pieces however you want. What I did was roll each piece into a ball then slightly squish the middle with my thumb and index finger.

8. Put the pieces on a tray - don't let them touch each other or they will stick.

9. To cook, boil some water and add some salt. Once boiled, put the gnocchi in. It should only take a couple of minutes until the gnocchi rise to the top. Wait about 10 seconds and take them out using a slotted spoon.

10. Add your favourite pasta sauce and serve!


Ref: http://www.homelife.com.au/food/6/make+basic+gnocchi

Trying recipes...

Why oh why is it so hard to find the right sponge recipe for a black forest cake? I tried 2 that looked decent but alas, they both turned out too heavy.

Now I'm thinking... was it my fault? did I not make it correctly? is my oven incapable of baking cakes??? I will settle with the latter :) Can you believe, my oven does not have "bake"... only "fan bake" grr!

Anyway, I ended up using the 2nd sponge that I made... it's not too bad actually... but would still prefer a lighter texture. This tastes more like airy devils food cake haha!

After assembling the cake using the basics - i.e. cream, cherries, etc, it actually tastes like black forest cake! So I'm happy with my first attempt :)

I don't want to upload the recipe for this cake yet because I will try 1 more time (next week perhaps) and compare. Watch this space!

New project by Morz... UH OH! not again....

Welcome :) 

For now it is still empty but hopefully this is going to be a project I will keep working on! I've decided to do a blog of my favourite recipes that I have successfully mastered (yea haha)...

I have been looking around online for recipes recently and have this constant craving to cook and bake! Probably because I have this month off before I start my new job... The lucky (or unlucky?) buggers will be my husband and my brother&sister in law - because they get to taste test my creations!

And don't worry, if I have taken a recipe from another website, I will put a link to their site to avoid copyright issues :)