Archive for the ‘Baking’ Category
Sunday, January 20th, 2008 |
I’ve baked cakes and I’ve baked tarts. Heck I even baked quiches, so this time round, its cookie time! Isn’t it the perfect time, now that Chinese New Year is just a few weeks away?
Again, my mum, the fairygodmother just have to wave her wishing wand, and voila! She have her Mrs. Field’s chocolate chip cookies freshly baked from her very own kitchen!
The original Mrs. Field’s Chocolate Chip Cookies recipe:
Chocolate chunks and walnut
Cream together
1 cup butter
1 cup sugar
1 cup brown sugar
Add
2 eggs
1 tsp. real vanilla extract
Mix together
2 cups all-purpose flour
2½ cups oatmeal (blended into a fine powder)
½ tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. baking powder
Mix all ingredients well, then add one 24-ounce bag of milk chocolate chips and 1½ cups chopped walnuts (or pecans). Drop dough balls on ungreased cookie sheets, two inches apart, and bake at 375° for 6-8 minutes. Makes approximately 60 cookies.
After I changed them all into metrics:
250g butter
125g confectioner’s sugar
125g brown sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp. real vanilla extract
160g oatmeal
180g all purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
250g semi sweet chocolate chopped into chunks (or chocolate chips)
120g nuts of your choice (pecan, almond nibs, walnuts, etc)
For the extra kick, I also added 2 tablespoons of Nescafe powder. Trust me, it makes a whole world of difference 
Some tips that I grabbed from here:
Tips for success with the Mrs. Fields cookie recipe
Always use real butter, not margarine. It DOES make a difference.
Use melted butter instead of room-temperature softened butter, which improves both the consistency of the dough and the texture of the baked cookies.
Double the amount of vanilla specified in the recipe. (Real vanilla extract, not “vanillin,” which is a cheaper substitute that doesn’t taste nearly as good the genuine article.)
Add a tablespoon or two of milk when mixing the dough. The cookies will come out softer and less crunchy.
Look at how they expand!
And the long winded instructions:
In a large bowl, until light and fluffy. Add in eggs one at a time into the creamed butter and sugar.
Preheat oven to 180 degree celcius
In a large bowl with an electric mixer cream butter and both the sugars at medium speed until light and fluffy. Add eggs and vanilla extract, and mix at medium speed until light and fluffy.
Combine flour, oatmeal, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Mix well with wire whisk. Set aside.
Add the flour mixture and blend at low speed until just mixed. Do not overmix.
Lastly, mix in the chocolate chunks and chopped nuts.
Drop by rounded tablespoons onto an ungreased cookie sheet, 2″ apart. Bake 22-24 minutes or until golden brown. Transfer cookies immediately to a cool surface with a spatula.
Popularity: 34% [?]
Posted in Baking, Chocolate, Cookies | No Comments »
Saturday, January 19th, 2008 |
My mum started pimping this recipe as soon as I settled down from my drive home, singing praises about this chocolate that can beat the confectioners’ version hand down, so I was hooked. You see, mum has always been discouraging whenever I bring up the idea of baking a chocolate cake, so this had to be good.
And it had better be! This morning I went grocery shopping for this cake, and for goodness sake, the flour was RM1.80 more expensive than the last I bought, and butter was a whopping RM5.00! Don’t get me started with the cocoa, I think buying a cake from the bakery and proclaim it as my creation would be hell lot cheaper.
So, if this cake is a failure I am going to be so sad, because it bled my wallet so badly.
Ingredients:
250g butter (salted), softened
175g confectioner’s sugar
3/4 teaspoon ovalet (cake stabilizer)
4 medium size eggs
4 tablespoon evaporated milk
2 1/2 tablespoon Sunquick orange
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
50g Van Houten pure soluble cocoa
175g all purpose flour
Method:
Preheat the oven to 200 degrees C. Line or grease a baking pan. I used a 9″ square pan.
In a large bowl, mix together the butter, sugar, and ovalet until light and fluffy. Use a hand mixer to make life easier. In the meantime, weigh and combine the pure soluble cocoa and flour. Sieve them together for three times.
When the mixture of butter, sugar and ovalet becomes light and fluffy, fold in the eggs. Add the Sunquick orange into the evaporated milk and mix well. This is to avoid uneven mixing of the orange syrup. Add everything into the the bowl and mix until they are even.
Slowly add in the mixture of flour and cocoa, and make sure they are mixed thoroughly. Pour into greased pan and bake for 40 minutes, or until the cake is set, that is, the middle of the cake is not runny anymore. Take care not to burn the cake, okay?
Cool the cake at the window sill.
The aftermath:
I dusted some cocoa onto the piece of cake. Is it noticeable?
Heck, why stop at cocoa? I could even dust on confectioner’s sugar!
While at it, why not drizzle some Sunquick orange too?
And chocolate syrup! I know. I think I overdid it. 
How was the cake?
Soft and richly flavoured chocolate cake with a hint of orange! The orangey-ness makes the cake less “jelak” at the last few bites, and while I think I overbaked it for a wee bit, luckily it wasn’t too dry. I like! And its easy, because the ovalet is going to make the cake failsafe, so as long as it is thoroughly cooked!
Popularity: 33% [?]
Posted in Baking, Cakes | 1 Comment »
Tuesday, December 18th, 2007 |
PB cupcakes! OMG this is my first successful cupcakes! This recipe is taken from allrecipes.com. About the only decent stuff I made before Christmas.
Ingredients:
145g brown sugar
50g shortening (30 g butter)
130g peanut butter
1 egg
180ml milk
3ml vanilla extract
155g all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cream of tartar (1 teaspoon lemon juice)
A pinch of salt
Method:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Line a cupcake pan with paper liners, or grease and flour cups.
In a large bowl, mix together the brown sugar, shortening and peanut butter until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then stir in the vanilla. Combine the flour, cream of tartar, baking soda and salt; stir into the batter alternately with the milk. Spoon into the prepared muffin cups.
Bake for 15 to 20 minutes in the preheated oven, until the top of the cupcakes spring back when lightly pressed. Cool in the pan for at least 10 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.
I used Skippy’s chunky peanut butter, hence the cupcake is full of chunky peanuts. For the extra peanut butter feel, I even added a dollop of peanut butter on it before serving. Oh yeah, since I don’t have any brown sugar at hand, I substituted it with normal sugar, which I think contributes to the paleness of the cupcakes.
Popularity: 30% [?]
Posted in Baking, Cakes | 1 Comment »
Thursday, December 6th, 2007 |
Sometimes, I just dislike opening a can of tuna because I can only eat that much and the rest must be kept in the fridge. After throwing away a few half cans of tuna, I was feeling guilty and the next time I had tuna leftovers, I am ready to turn them into edible snacks that I can nibble with.
I used these ingredients:
crusty bread (I used batons, or baguettes will be fine too) slice 3 cm thick
tuna flakes (whatever leftover tuna that you can’t finish) mixed with mayo and seasoned with salt and pepper
cheddar cheese (any other cheese would be great as well)
butter or vegetable spread (optional) to spread on the bread.
This is how I did it:
Butter up the sliced bread and spread tuna evenly on top of the bread. Arrange neatly on a baking pan. Repeat for all the slices of bread. Slap on the cheese and and put them to bake at say, 180 degree celcius, or until the bread is crunchy and the cheese melts.
Serve with chilli sauce or your favourite sauces.
Simple, eh?
Popularity: 31% [?]
Posted in Baking, Bread and Sandwiches, Fish, Preprocessed Food | No Comments »
Thursday, November 22nd, 2007 |
If you are a bacon and cheese lover, you will love this. Seriously, I have yet to find someone who doesn’t love a combo of them both. This sinfully rich bacon and cheddar cheese quiche which is laden with fatty bacons and melted cheddar is another one of my holiday cookouts last month. Got lazy to post it, forgot all about it until now. I made the quiche crust using the pate brisee crust, and for a 9 inch pie plate the fillings I used are:
8 strips bacon, cooked and crumbled
4 large eggs
1 1/2 cups whole milk
1/8 teaspoon pepper
1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese
Prepare the pate brisee crust as per instruction of the recipe. In a small bowl, whisk together the eggs, milk, thyme, and pepper. Pour into the baked crust. Crumble bacon over the top with the shredded Cheddar cheese.
Bake at 175 degree C for about 30 minutes, or until quiche filling is set and top is lightly browned. The recipe I found on the net suggested serving the quiche with fresh tomato wedges or a tossed salad, although I scarfed them down the moment the quiche is freshly baked out of the oven. The aroma, texture, and lingering aftertaste is just indescribably good!
Popularity: 22% [?]
Posted in Baking, Pastry, Pork | No Comments »
