Chocolate chip cookies (Almost Amos!)

You walk past the Famous Amos cookie stall, and you wonder how much would you fork out, should they start to charge for smells..... 

Well, get those smells free right in your very own kitchen! Nothing perks up a day than the aroma of warm milo! 

Many years ago, when the Internet was just born, I received an email saying this lady paid a huge price for Famous Amos' chocolate chip cookie recipe, and she wanted to share with everyone on the Internet. I was skeptical, but I kept it in my memory and now, years later, I finally tried this recipe and have made some tweaks along the way, and I'm pleased to say it's almost the real McCoy, and even if you don't think so, it's still pretty darn delicious anyway. 

So every recipe on the Internet nowadays, assumes that everyone has a mixer in their kitchen. What if they don't!? I give you two options for this recipe - the old school way, like how I learnt it in school, and the new school way, which is the easy way out and good for you if you have a mixer. I did mine by hand and sheer arm power. 

And this, kids, is the creaming in method, by hand, using a wooden spoon.

It's light and fluffy now, phew! 

In goes the yummy chocolate bits! Mix it up and start savouring the chocolatey smell already!

All lined up and getting ready to be baked. 

Here, get started on yours and have the wonderful aroma of warm chocolate wafting in your kitchen! 

ALMOST AMOS CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES

Yield: 60 pieces 

Time taken: 30 minutes

Ingredients

Wet mix:

1 cup (239g) butter 

1 cup brown/Demerara sugar

1 cup caster sugar 

2 medium sized eggs (35g/each) 

1 teaspoon vanilla 

Dry mix 

1 cup plain flour 

1 cup oatmeal, finely grounded

1 teaspoon baking soda 

1 teaspoon baking powder

A pinch of salt 

12oz chocolate chips 

9oz grated choc 

1.5 cups nuts (walnuts/pecans/hazelnuts work best)

Method

Old school style:

1. Preheat oven 375deg F / 190deg C. 

2. Take butter out to soften.

3. If you got a chocolate bar instead of already grated chocolate, grate it now. 

4. Crack both eggs into a clean bowl and add vanilla essence. Mix well with a fork. Set aside. 

5. Measure butter n sugar, rub sugar into butter. 

6. Using wooden spoon, cream butter and sugar til light, white and fluffy. 

7. Add eggs and vanilla mixture to creamed butter and sugar mixture in three batches to prevent curdling. 

8. Sieve the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Add oatmeal to mixture. 

9. Fold flour mixture into butter mixture. I usually use a long-handled scraper because the flat angle works best.

10. Gently incorporate the chocolate chips and grated chocolate and nuts. 

11. Grease baking tray or else line baking tray with baking parchment or baking paper. 

12. Scoop out cookie dough, leaving some space in between because cookies will spread. 

13. Freezing dough overnight develops the flavours and can be kept in the freezer for up to 3 months. 

14. Bake at 190deg C, center rack, for 10-12 minutes. 

New school style (with fancy mixers all)

1. Preheat oven to 375deg F/190deg C. 

2. On high speed, cream ingredients for wet mix, except eggs. 

3. Once light and fluffy, add eggs one by one and mix on lower speed.

4. Using lowest speed setting, add in dry mix ingredients one by one as listed. 

5. Scoop out onto lined baking tray. 

6. Bake at 190deg C, middle shelf, for 10-12 minutes. 

🍪28 January 2014

Homemade Bak Kwa!!

Tired of queuing at Bee Cheng Hiang/Lim Chee Guan/Kim Joo Guan/Bee Hock Guan for hours on end only to have your year's savings extorted from you? Bee Cheng Hiang is selling sliced pork Bak Kwa at $50/kg this year, and Lim Chee Guan at $52/kg! Bee Cheng Hiang's Gourmet slices are $77! 

(http://sg.openrice.com/info/chinesenewyear/bak-kwa.html)

The pennypincher/DIY goddess in me said let's homemake this because minced pork is less than $15/kg! And the healthnut in me rejoiced because I omitted colouring and preservatives. 

Here you go: 

HOME-MADE BAK KWA RECIPE

Ingredients:

1kg minced pork/chicken/beef (the fattier it is, the more tender, juicy and fragrant) 

100g sugar (caster, fine, white, brown- your choice) 

2 tablespoons fish sauce

2 tablespoons light soy sauce

2 tablespoons oyster sauce

2 tablespoons shao xing wine (Chinese rice wine)

1 tablespoon kecap manis (dark caramel sauce is recommended here)

1/2 teaspoon five spice powder

1/2 teaspoon dark soy sauce

1 tablespoon honey

Pepper and salt to taste

Red liquid food colouring (optional- I did not use)

No special brand here, just the regular seasonings you'd find in most kitchens. Add all ingredients and mix in well with the minced meat. Ensure to stir well. The meat will turn from lumpy to gooey. Gooey is when you know to stop, about 5 minutes. My preferred mode is chopsticks, though feel free to use a spoon or fork. Stir it well, if it is still lumpy, the pieces will fall apart when cooking. 

It's gooey now. Time to stop and refrigerate it overnight or 6-8 hours. The next day, once out of the fridge, wait for it to thaw a little and give it a good stir once more to ensure it spreads well. 

Spread it on cling wrap. If you use a baking tray or a pastry board or your kitchen countertop, you'll get a bigger piece, and you can make it rectangle in shape. You can use the back of a spoon, your fingers, or a rolling pin. I chose a plate and the back of a spoon, and I got flat, round pieces. 

Once you have it spread out, transfer to baking / parchment sheet or aluminium foil. Put it in a dehydrator to dry it out. I used a regular oven, at 150deg C, and left the door opened. The temperature would depend very much on your oven, experiment and see which temperature is optimum for your oven. 

The meat sticks well to the cling wrap and this is the fun part! Flipping it on the baking sheet and peeling the cling wrap off. 

This is how it looks like dried out and it's time to flip. Admittedly, it does not look appealing, but have patience...... And take a deep breath! Your kitchen will have the mouthwatering scent of Bee Cheng Hiang. 

There will be some juice/liquid and it helps to drain it off or dab it away at this stage. 

Just a few more minutes, remove from oven and cut it to smaller pieces. 

Return to the oven at 220deg C to brown and char the pieces. And here u have it! Enjoy! 

Steps: 

1. Mix the all the ingredients thoroughly, ensuring the lumpy meat becomes gooey, so it will not fall into pieces when cooking. 

2. Refrigerate the mixture overnight or 6-8 hours. 

3. Thaw the meat from out of the fridge and give it a good stir to make it more gooey. 

4. Pre-heat oven 150deg C 

5. Spread out the meat on cling wrap and transfer to baking tray and place in oven with oven door opened. 

6. Bake for 10-15 minutes at 150deg C with oven door open. 

7. Once meat is dried, remove from oven and cool. Increase oven temperature to 220deg C.

8. Cut to smaller pieces and return to oven. 

9. Bake for 10 minutes at 220deg C, or until charred. 

10. Savour your homemade goodness, and don't forget to take pictures first! 

Not everyone has the luxury of firing up a BBQ grill at home all the time, right? And a oven will also suffice when home-making bak kwa at home. However, if you get the chance, bak kwa over a coal fire yields the yummiest results.

28January2014

CNY 2014 Pineapple Tarts

What time is it? Pineapple tart time:)

When it comes to open tarts vs enclosed tarts, people are definitely divided in preference. 

For me, I love the melt in your mouth, crumbly crust, followed by the chewy, tart pineapple-ly goodness of these enclosed tarts. 

Following Phoon Huat's recipe, I whipped up a batch. These are for the crust. 

Trying to appease both sides? I attempted to make open tarts the enclosed way and they look like eyeballs. Lol!! 

Recipe posted here: 

http://bakewithdin.blogspot.com/2014/01/pineapple-tarts.html

🍍25 January 2014

Soufflé - Cointreau

The first attempt was a success I just had to make them again. This time I had to ensure I had ramekins. It took me a long while of searching to locate them. You can never find the things you want WHEN you want them. I had to make do with these. (Can you believe that Phoon Huat had only these? Where is crate and barrel when you need them?) 

This is my 2nd attempt in making Cointreau Soufflés. 

They seem to rise nicely, except the one in the bottom left, which seems a little reluctant. 

What time is it? It's Soufflé time!! 

Recipe posted here: 

http://bakewithdin.blogspot.com/2014/01/cointreau-souffle.html

RECIPE Cointreau Soufflé

I didn't have the proper equipment - I.e the ramekins. Nonetheless, the recipe was easy enough to follow and the turn out was delish! There's nothing not to love about fluffy goodness laced with alcohol! Try it:) 

Recipe taken from:

http://www.williams-sonoma.com/recipe/grand-marnier-souffle.html

A soufflé, whose name derives from the French verb "to blow," is an airy concoction leavened by beaten egg whites and oven heat. Soufflés should be served directly from the oven, before they have any chance to deflate. The soufflé dish, a ceramic dish with tall, straight sides, is usually greased and then dusted with sugar (or, for savory soufflés, bread crumbs) to help the batter "climb" the sides of the dish. For some high-rising soufflés, a collar is fashioned out of parchment paper to give more support.

Ingredients:

For the pastry cream:

• 1 cup milk
• 6 eggs, separated, at room temperature
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 3 Tbs. all-purpose flour
• 2 tsp. finely grated orange zest
• Pinch of salt
• 1/4 cup Grand Marnier or other orange liqueur
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 
  
  Crème anglaise for serving.

Directions:

To make the pastry cream, in a saucepan over medium heat, warm the milk until small bubbles appear along the edge of the pan. Remove from the heat.

In a bowl, whisk together the egg yolks, 1/3 cup of the sugar, the flour, orange zest and salt until pale and well blended. While whisking, slowly add the hot milk. 

Pour the mixture back into the saucepan and place over medium-low heat. Cook, whisking constantly, until the mixture comes to a boil. Continue to cook, whisking constantly, for 1 minute. Remove from the heat and whisk in the liqueur and vanilla. 

Pour the pastry cream into a large bowl and gently press a piece of plastic wrap directly onto the surface to prevent a skin from forming. Let cool to room temperature or refrigerate until ready to bake.

Preheat an oven to 375°F. Lightly butter a 6-cup soufflé dish and dust with sugar.

Remove the plastic wrap from the pastry cream and whisk until smooth. In a deep, spotlessly clean bowl, using an electric mixer, beat the egg whites on medium-high speed until they are foamy and soft peaks form when the beaters are lifted. While beating, gradually add the remaining 1/3 cup sugar and continue to beat until stiff peaks form.

Scoop about one-fourth of the egg whites onto the pastry cream and, using a rubber spatula, fold in gently to lighten the mixture. Then fold in the remaining whites just until no white streaks remain. Scoop into the prepared dish. Run a thumb around the inside rim of the dish to keep the batter from sticking and help the soufflé rise.

Bake until the soufflé is puffed and the top is browned, but the soufflé still jiggles slightly when the dish is gently shaken, about 30 minutes. Serve immediately with the crème anglaise.

Serves 6 to 8.

Adapted from Williams-Sonoma Collection Series, Dessert, by Abigail Johnson Dodge (Simon & Schuster, 2002).

RECIPE Pineapple tarts

It's that glorious time of the year again where the weather is cool, there is a sense of hopefulness in the air as we leave behind all the negativity of the past and anticipate all the goodness that the new year beholds. Is this why Chinese New Year is synonymous with goodies - and charged at an exorbitant price too? 

Did u know that the Chinese New Year is fraught with symbolism?

According to this website:

http://www.nationsonline.org/oneworld/Chinese_Customs/food_symbolism.htm

Pineapples (凤梨; fènglí) signify wealth, luck, excellent fortune, gambling luck

Well, here's a recipe I got from Phoon Huat to make your own little balls of wealth and luck. And the cost of making these yourself is just a mere fraction of the prices of getting them outside. 

Pineapple tarts (Enclosed) 

Pastry 

120g unsalted butter

160g plain flour 

1 egg yolk

12g skim/ milk powder

25g sugar

1/4tsp vanilla essence

1/8tsp vanillin powder

1. Rub in butter and sugar. 

2. Rub in yolk.

3. Add flour, milk powder, vanilla and vanillin powder, work it in until it forms a dough. 

Preheat oven to 180deg Celcius

4. Measure out 8g of filling (roll into ball) to 10g of dough. 

5. Glaze top of balls before placing in oven.

6. Bake for 15-20 min. 

🍍 23 March 2014 

Choux Puffs, Savoury and Cream

Cream puffs need not be sweet all the time. With a little imagination, the flavours need not always be plain vanilla. 

I made some savory puffs; spicy curry chicken (with carrots and corn) and garlic pork with peas and a heavy dash of freshly ground black pepper. 

I made sweet puffs too, for sure! I made rum and raisin cream puffs. 

What time is it? Cream Puffs time:) 

I followed a recipe I got online which was supposed to yield Cream Puffs like Beard Papa. I made them smaller in size and not as stiff. There they are, ready to be piped in. 

Unfortunately, my custard (made from scratch) had curdled so it's not shown here. These have been filled with rum and raisin custard and whipped cream. They were still delish!  

2 January 2014 

RECIPE Pineapple-upside-down Cake

What time is it? Pineapple upside down cake time!! 

Yeap, the last time I baked these babies was probably 15 years ago! They were one of the first cakes i learnt to bake in school. I used to love baking them because they are so easy to make, fail-safe and absolutely yummy! The rich full mouthfeel of a dense caramelly butter cake, set off by the refreshing tartness of the pineapple, makes for really happy tummy times.

RECIPE 

Pineapple Upside Down Cake

(http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/5562/pineapple-upsidedown-cake)

For the topping

• 50g softened butter
• 50g light soft brown sugar
• 7 pineapples rings in syrup, drained and syrup
• glacé cherry

For the cake

• 100g softened butter
• 100g golden caster sugar
• 100g self-raising flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 eggs

1. Heat oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4. 
2. For the topping, beat the butter and sugar together until creamy. Spread over the base and a quarter of the way up the sides of a 20-21cm round cake tin. 
3. Arrange pineapple rings on top, then place cherries in the centres of the rings.
4. Place the cake ingredients in a bowl along with 2 tbsp of the pineapple syrup and, using an electric whisk, beat to a soft consistency. 
5. Spoon into the tin on top of the pineapple and smooth it out so it’s level. 
6. Bake for 35 mins. 
7. Leave to stand for 5 mins, then turn out onto a plate. Serve warm with a scoop of ice cream.

🍰 2 January 2014