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

Baking at Shou Min's

So, Shou Min had gotten a spanking new kitchen oven for Christmas. And he asked me over to bake. We set a date, and I went over on 28 Dec '13. I had a solemnisation to attend and the dinner was in the evening. In between, we managed to squeeze out some time to create some yummy goodness with his oven. 

That's the first batch of chocolate chip cookies getting ready to go in. They smell like milo. 

And there they are in the oven..... Looking mouthwateringly gorgeous. They smell like warm milo. Haha.

We had also baked Quiche and here is the chicken ham one. There was also a bacon and honey-baked ham one. Since the crust was baked-blind prior to adding the filling, the pastry crust turned out crisp and the filling was still moist and eggy. I forgot to add the onion so it was on the salty side. But it was still yummy overall. Looks like even chicken ham works. I wonder how the bacon and ham one turned out, cos I had crisp fried the bacon first.