CNY Bake : Almond Cookies

I am sure most of you have tasted almond cookies before. I would say a good recipe should be those that will slowly melts in the mouth. It should have a faint almond fragrant and sweet buttery after taste. I don't really fancy those that has almond essence nor small almond chunks in them. The essence taste artificial & those chunky almond bits get stuck in my teeth!  If I say I like almond cookies, it is an understatement...I can chow down a tub all by myself if I am not watching my waistline, lol! But hey, looking on the brighter side, almonds has so many health benefits, it's alright to indulge in it right?

It is essential you get whole blanched almonds for this. Roast them and then grind them to fine powdery texture. If you choose to use store bought fine almond flour, it should be okay if you know the store has fresh stock every time. Else those almond powder that has been shelved too long will loose its fragrant and might even have an old stale taste to it. :P

Ingredients for Almond cookies

250g whole blanched almonds

- Roasted at 200C for 10 minutes till slightly golden. Let cool completely then grind it till very fine.

100g plain flour

120g cake flour

1 tsp baking powder

95g confectioner's sugar

1/2 tsp fine salt

100 - 120 ml peanut oil (add enough to make a soft dough)

50g melted unsalted butter

Egg wash for glazing (omit if you want it vegetarian version)

• In a large mixing bowl, sift both flours & baking powder in. Then sift in the confectioner's sugar and salt. Now add in the grind almond and mix well.
• Add in both peanut oil and melted butter. Stir the whole mixture until it comes together to form a soft pliable dough.
• Preheat the oven to 170C. 
• At this point you can choose to cut out or shape the dough into rounds as desired. Lay them on a baking tray lined with parchment paper. Repeat till all the dough has been shaped out.
• Glaze the cookie tops with egg wash.
• Bake the cookies in the oven for 15-18 minutes till light golden brown.
• Remove from oven and let cool before storing. Enjoy!

Don't ask me how many of these cookies I have eaten...I've already lost count, lol! I had to seal the tubs to stop myself from sneaking a few cookies ever so often! 

Even though I baked double the above recipe, it still seems not enough. :P Anyway, I doubt I have the leisure to bake another batch for CNY...since I still have a few more cookies to bake!

I am happy to submit this to Sonia's blog event :Chinese New Year Delights 2013 新春送礼.

Okay folks, gonna go bake more cookies...until next time, happy baking all!

Post Full of New Year Cookies!

My my , I have never deliberately neglected my blog for such a long duration of time before! I am not idling and wasting my time away, mind you. It's just that this year's pre- CNY bake has been a real busy one! Now, finally, I get some time to post it, please be warned of this LONG POST, since its a consolidation of all those cookies I baked for the past 2 weeks. :P

It all started with this idea in my mind; to make the pineapple tarts into golden nugget shapes! Sounds fantastic, but it's quite time consuming to make the shape. ^_^" But since it was so well received and several orders came in., I went ahead with it. It practically took up all of my free time, not to mention having to perform my daily duties on top of it. Although there are still requests coming in, I have to turn them down as I have already over stretched my limits...meaning I actually fell ill because of over working or over baking?! :P So lesson learn here, don't be too ambitious and remember to mark up the price to make more worthwhile, lol! Without further ado, here it is, my pineapple golden nuggets!

The recipe is actually quite similar to the one I used last year, I made minor adjustment to it. Furthermore, I was too tight down that I don't have time to make my own pineapple jam, thus store bought ones. Luckily I was still able to find one that is not so sweet and a slight tartness to it. Furthermore my customers were pleased with them, so no complains there. :)

Taste? It's light, almost melt in the mouth, except for the chewiness from the pineapple jam, you really won't feel 'heavy' or full after popping 3 or 4 of these in your mouth! I also made some flower shaped pineapple tarts for my husband's co worker. :)

Besides all these traditional pineapple tarts, I too baked several other cookies this year, namely cornflake cookies, almond cookies (my favorite), peanut cookies, rabbit shaped butter cookies and lastly Orange scented Strawberry jam Almond Swirl cookies. A little much right, hahaha!

The cornflake cookies is actually a special request from my husband's work place, so I just did it as a favor. Besides I make a little more for my kids to try to, heehee. I actually adapt the recipe from Jodelibakery. For more details on the recipe, please refer to the link.

The recipe is simple and easy to make. I added 2 different 'topping' to the cookies, one os dried cranberries and the other semisweet chocolate chips. The crunch and flavor from the cornflakes is very satisfying, not too sweet and a nice snack that you don't normally find selling in stores even during CNY. The down side however is that these cookies need to be store in air tight containers, else it turns slightly chewy after awhile.

Next up is almond cookies....my favorite! This is the first time I attempted to make this myself. Why wait so long? Well, My standard is so high, I worry I might just disappoint myself, lol! Anyway, here it is, my almond cookies:

Not too shabby huh? For this recipe, I adapted J3ss's version, but replaced portion of the vegetable oil with ghee since I like the buttery scent from the clarified butter. :) Overall the texture and sweetness was really good, melt in the mouth but with bits of almond crunch in it, which is what I like. :)

However there is just one mistake I made....adding almond essence to the it. Somehow that 1/4 tsp of essence just made the cookie taste a little artificial. :P I swear the next time I make these, I am not gonna add any essence to it....natural is good. :) I just have to toast those almonds real good to get it's natural flavor out.
Next is peanut cookies. Since I love peanut, so I always make a point to make some every year. Here they are!

I love peanut cookies, it's almost a must for me in CNY. However, the dreading part I believe for most of us is to roast, de-skin and ground the peanuts. Although it only took me 3 hours to perform that task, I still didn't enjoy it any bit. But store bought ones are also not an option, so I guess I just have to suck it up and do it, lol!

Taste? It's almost melt in your mouth of course! I adapted the recipe from Wendy but I made some changes to it; i.e less the powder sugar by 10% (but still too sweet for me) and used ghee in place of 50% of the vegetable oil needed in the recipe (Plus 3 tbsp more). A wonderful recipe, but I will remember to reduce the sugar by 15 or 20% next time.
This year I made butter cookies mainly because it was actually a special request from a neighbor. So I decided to cut them out into rabbit shape to make them a little more festive, heehee!

Sorry, forgotten to snap a few photos of the cookies before I bottled them up. :P There are 4 different rabbit shapes in there. :) This recipe is the same butter cookies as the one I made before.
Last of them cookies I made this year would be Orange Scented Strawberry Jam Almond Swirl cookies which I got from 孟老師的下午茶 which I borrowed from the library. :) My kid loves jam cookies, so whenever I see any new recipes, I would jump to try it out. ;)

The addition of almond flour in this recipe makes it really special and delicious. ;) My girl loved it so much that she brought it to school for a consecutive 4 days!

However due to the presence of moisture in the jam, the cookies turned kind of soft after a couple of days. :P But the flavor is still good, so it was all eaten up as well. :D Here is the recipe for this delicious cookie:

Ingredients for Orange scented Jam Almond Swirl cookies (makes about 15 to 20)
Set A:
80g unsalted butter
50g ground almond
50g powdered sugar
1/4 tsp salt
25g egg white
Finely grated orange peel of 1 orange (without the white part)
100g cake flour

Set B:
Fruit Jam (I used strawberry jam)
Method:

• In a mixing bowl, cream the butter, sifted ground almond flour and powered sugar together till well combined.
• Add in egg white and orange peel to the butter mixture and again mix well.
• Preheat oven to 170C and line a baking tray with parchment paper.
  
• Add cake flour in directly and stir gently but not over mixing it. Scoop batter into piping bag with a large flower tip.
• Pipe out the cookies in circular discs, leaving about 3 cm apart from other cookies. Repeat till all the batter is piped out.
• Bake the cookies in the oven for 15 minutes, then remove from oven and place about 1/4 tsp of jam in the center of each cookie. Put the half baked cookies back into the oven to continue to bake for another 10 minutes.
• Once the cookies a slight golden brown, remove from oven and let cool completely before storing them in air tight containers.
  

After all this, I shan't forget to do this before I sign off. That is to submit this to Aspiring Bakers #3 : My Favorite CNY Cookie (Jan 2011) hosted by Jess of i3ss kitch3n. Hope I am not too late for that! :D

Just in case I don't get the chance to post something up before the arrival of the Lunar New Year, I want to take this opportunity to wish one and all:

富貴滿堂, 万事如意,

身体健康, 新年快乐!

Cheers all! Happy Rabbit Year!!

Tiger Butter Cookies & Apple Crumble Muffins

So exciting! The Chinese New Year is just around the corner and everyone is just busy cleaning, buying, baking, and decorating! The mood is really in the air. :) It's been so many years since I am home, really home to enjoy this festive holiday with my family in Singapore. I remember the years in California, the first day of CNY is still a working day! And eating reunion dinner would be just me and my husband plus my girls. Not that mood if you know what I mean. It's really good to be home again. :) And in view of the coming Tiger year, I have decided to make some Tiger shaped butter cookies. :) These cookies are very easy to make, only took me 3 hours to complete them. I have adapted the recipe from Sonia (Nasi Lemak Lover) butter cookie recipe. I did make a slight change to the recipe by adding extra 25g of cornflour into the batter to make it a wee bit more firm. I actually planned to make these for my younger daughter's school CNY celebration next week. But thought I made some in advance for the family to enjoy. Indeed these cookies are light and crisp...and literally melt-in-your mouth, superb! I simply just piped melted dark chocolate ganache over the cookies to draw out the tiger faces. My girls love the buttery light cookies and were even more amused after seeing the tiger faces and chocolate on top. I tasted it again the next day and it is still very good. :)Will definitely keep this recipe for next year. Yummy!

So far this year I only managed to bake Peanut Cookies, Pineapple tarts, 2 kinds of Butter cookies and cornflake cookies. I have to thank my MIL for being so patient and allowing me to bake up so many CNY cookies and cakes in her kitchen. Hopefully next year in my own kitchen I will be able to come up with more yummy bakes for all to share. :)

The next item I wanted to post is Apple Crumble Muffins. I made this mainly for my elder daughter to bring for snack during her recess time. She loves apples, whether it's fresh or made into apple pie, apple tarts etc. And lately she demands to eat apples everyday...at least half or 1 apple. So I thought why not make her something that she likes so much.

Ingredients for Apple Crumble Muffins (makes 12 standard):
150g unsalted butter, room temperature
75g caster sugar
75g brown sugar
2 eggs
1tsp vanilla extract
240g plain flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
130ml fresh milk

Apple filling:
2 medium to large apples, peeled and cored, cut into small chunks
50g brown sugar
1 tbsp fresh lemon juice
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon powder

Crumble topping:
60g cold butter, cubed
60g brown sugar
100g cake flour
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon powder

Method:

• Using a small heat proof sauce pot, cook the apples together with the rest of the filling ingredients till it's semi-soft, about 10 minutes. Let cool before use.
  
• In another mixing bowl, mix everything in the crumble topping ingredients together. Using your finger tips to knead till it resembles bread crumbs. Set aside or refrigerate till needed.
• Preheat the oven to 180°C.
• Sift the flour, salt, baking soda and baking powder into a bowl and set aside.
• Cream the butter and both the sugars together till light and fluffy. Add one egg at a time and beat till well mixed. Add vanilla extract and blend well.
• Add 1/4 of the flour mixture into the butter & sugar mixture and mix well. Then add 1/3 of the milk in and again mix well. Repeat till all of the flour and milk has been added.
• Stir in the apple fillings and pour the batter into the paper lined muffin tins to about 3/4 full. Then scoop about 1 tbsp of the crumble topping over the top, gently pressing a little to make sure it will stick.
• Bake in the preheated oven for 20 to 25 minutes till tester comes out clean and the top is golden brown. Remove from oven and let rest on cooling rack.

I love the moist texture of this cake and the crusty salty sweet crumble toppings. Although the apple scent and taste is not as evident as I hope it is, but it was still a delicious delicate cake to enjoy. My daughter loved it and so did I. :) In fact this muffin is a delicious choice over the usual bread and butter.
Perhaps the next time I tried this recipe again, I shall use Granny Smith rather then those China Fuji, which is less intense in apple taste. I would also reduce the cooking time for the apples so that it has more texture in the muffin. Interested? Do try it out...maybe after CNY.

Lastly, I would like to wish everyone out there:

虎年快乐！　身体健康！　财源广进！　国太平安！

Finally... pineapple tarts

Yes, you can say that, I won't blame you. "Finally! That pineapple tart she's been talking about for the past 2 weeks!" Excuse : My motherly duties and other commitments had push this bake back till this very last weekend before CNY. But you know I am worried, since on readers have been telling me they are looking forward to this post ... because I probably will let them down. ;P Well, it's not like I am making the pineapple filling from scratch which I can rave about, nor I have this super great secret recipe which which I'm gonna reveal. It's just me...me wanting so bad to bake these cookies since a month back. Furthermore I am just using the usual store bought fillings from the supermarket. And to think I am also experimenting on a new pastry recipe! But honestly speaking, it just doesn't feel right not having pineapple tarts during CNY...and for me, I have to bake them! It was still hard work, and so far I have already baked about 7 tubs of it...but I am still loving it! I was delighted when I found out that the packet of pineapple filling I bought has the right amount of sweetness...in fact it even has a tang to it! ;) It's great because the previous year's was kind of on the sweet side and the elder group were not keen on my tarts. :P They will say "Ai ya, so sweet!" However this time....they go "Hmmm...not bad." That's a big improvement! :)

I have made them relatively small enough to just conveniently pop one right into the mouth. Then slowly melting down the pastry and mixing the sweet and tangy flavors of the pineapple into it...a wonderful and delicious treat that you just can't stop with one. ;)

Ingredients for Pineapple tart pastry:
280g plain flour
60g corn flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
3 to 4 tbsp confectioner's sugar
1/2 salt 200g quality cold butter, cut into small cubes
1 egg yolk
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
3 to 4 tbsp ice water

Method:

• Sift flour, cornflour, confectioner's sugar, salt and baking powder into a large mixing bowl.
• Add cubed cold butter and use finger tips to knead the butter in till the mixture resembles bread crumbs.
• Mix the egg yolk with the vanilla extract, then add the ice water in. Add it to the flour & butter mixture. Stir and slowly stir mixture till it forms a soft dough. If dough is too dry and cannot form a dough, add another 1 tbsp ice water.
• At this point you can choose to chill the dough to be use next time or you can start wrapping the pineapple filling. Shape / decorate as desired.
  

I am trying to shape my cookie to look like a pineapple if you haven't noticed. :}It sure took a lot of time to individually handle and shape the cookie ...but I am pretty happy with the look. Well at least my 2 little girls are able to tell me what it looks like. :D
Anyway, I still have another last batch to bake tomorrow and I'll be done...will probably try to bake another cake & cookie before I close shop to enjoy CNY. :) Have been seeing some really good butter cookies which I am really eager to try out...hopefully soon!! BTW, can you all believe it took me 2 days of 4 separate sessions (1 hr or 30 mins) to complete this post! Okay, enough jabbering...time to get some Zzzzz. Have a good day all!!

Lucky Me

My husband and I decided to go up to KL for a short get away last weekend. It was a really brief trip for me because I spent exactly 24hrs there and had to fly back to Singapore since my girls need to school today. But I have no complains because I still managed to see most of my good friends during this limited time frame and did most of the things I planned. What touched me the most is my friends had took the time out of their busy schedule to meet up with me with such short notice. Furthermore it was a rainy night! :P It was so good to see my dear friends again. Their warm smiles and bubbly laughter never fail to cheer me up. Seeing them made me realize how much I have missed them, just this 1 month period apart.

Besides their , they have showered me with Chinese New Year cookies and gifts that money can never buy. I was quite speechless with gratitude for their ever generous friendship, and a mere thank you for them seems so inadequate. :( I really wish I had done more for them...and whatever I say seems like an excuse for not doing so. All I can promise is I will do better next time and always remember they are really more then just friends. :) Thanks ladies!

5 tubs of CNY cookies from my friends! That is why I say lucky me! All these are homemade by my 3 good friends, and ReeseKitchen herself already gave me 3 tubs! You guys should head to her blog and check out her latest post on CNY cookies. The other 2 tubs were from another 2 good friends Ee Peng and Siew Hoong. There are 2 tubs of pineapple tarts, 1 tub cashew cookies, 1 tub peanut puff and 1 tub peanut cookies. Thanks so much ladies!!
Okay, if you have notice, the photo frame behind is not taken by accident...it is also a gift from my friend Ee Peng (taken by her husband TJ). This photo was "artistically" taken by her husband using those antic cameras can take B&W photos. He is really into photography and I was really please that he took a shot of us and actually frame it so nicely for us ladies! Again speechless with gratitude! :P Furthermore, I really love that picture...thanks Ee Peng & TJ.
As for the book on the side, is from my dear friend Susan. She actually took the trouble to search for this book for me, knowing that I wanted it. She is really busy with her own home baking business and taking care of her 2 young infants. But I am truly happy that her baking business is picking up especially since she really have a flair for cake design. Do head over to her blog if you guys are interested. Her blog is Just Celebrate Cakes.
Aren't these cookies just yummy looking? In fact they taste as good as they look. :) And upon receiving these cookies really made me think twice about baking anymore CNY cookies myself, hahaha! What can I say, I am truly satisfied with all these already. :) And since it's been crazy busy with the kids and the new house...so it's seems like a leisure now to have time to bake. :P Even with the free time I have, I have to study for my highway code theory exam to take my driver's license exam!! Still holding the California driver's license now...and I need to convert it before I become an illegal driver on the road. :P But still...I will bake...minimal. Better then none I guess. :)

Thanks for staying with me to read on what I'm jabbering about. :) But I feel truly blessed to have such good friends and hopefully our friendship can stay strong. Signing off now...have a good one all! ;)