Melting Moments

For someone who doesn't really like baking cookies, I sure do bake a lot of cookies.

Cookie in case: melting moments.

Let me rephrase. It's not that I don't like making cookies, it's just that I'm not overly fond of having to babysit them and give the sheets a turn halfway through, or pick out the ones that have browned while checking on the ones that haven't every five minutes or so. I'm lazy, see, so cakes are a better option for me. Plus, I love frosting and decorating cakes so..

I'm now back in my home and I'm getting reacquainted with my oven again. I got home yesterday after six hours in the car and the first thing I wanted to do was bake a cake. But then after unpacking and mopping the floor and doing some random bits and bobs, I was too tired to think, let alone follow a recipe. So today, armed with a grim determination to bake a cake and a surplus of egg whites from making these pineapple tarts, I stormed the internet for a recipe that would scratch both those itches. I ended up picking a recipe that was neither for a cake nor required any egg whites. In fact the recipe didn't even need eggs.

Why this recipe then, you ask ? Well I was at an aunt's house during Chinese New Year and she had laid the table with an assortment of cookies for us guests. That's a norm actually, and one that I've loved since I was a kid. I used to pick out all the candies from the box though, and I think my relatives have wisened up and replaced the sweets with cookies. Among the cookies that she set out were the typical pineapple tarts, chocolate chip cookies, nut cookies and something that looked suspiciously like German butter cookies. I had been seeing a lot of them on the internet lately and as I tentatively unscrewed the lid of the cookie jar, I found out why. The milky-buttery aroma that I loved so much hit me instantly. And they dissipated as soon as I popped them into my mouth. I couldn't get enough.

They seemed a lot easier to make too, since the original recipe needed no chilling time and I could just bake them right away. Unfortunately, I didn't have any potato starch in hand so I went hunting for another recipe similar to the little cookies and managed to unearth these melting moments. They seemed cute and buttery so I just rolled with it and boy am I glad I did. 

 

Little bite sized babies.

As is evident by my proclaimed love for all things cake and brownie, I am not a fan of anything so teeny and bite sized because it's all too easy to pop one two three five into my mouth without noticing. But then again, there was something to enthralling about these mini morsels that I just wanted to churn out tray after tray after tray if only to inhale that buttery smell all day (send help).

I made these with the intention to fill them with buttercream and jam. Sadly after rolling out four trays of dough balls, I got distracted and lazy and decided to leave them be.. Oops.

Melting Moments (recipe taken from here)

180g unsalted butter
60g icing sugar
60g custard powder
1 tsp baking powder
180g plain flour

1. Preheat the oven to 180C. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Or use a silicon mat if you have one - it makes cleanup a little easier.
2. In a mixer, beat the butter until creamy. Add the icing sugar and custard powder, the beat until well combined. Sift in the flour and baking powder, beat until just mixed in.
3. Measure out 10g portions of dough (about a teaspoon) and roll them into balls. Place on the baking sheet and flatten with a fork so each cookie has those distinctive ridges. Place the sheet of cookies in the refrigerator to chill for 15 minutes (I find that this step helps them hold their shape better).
4. Bake the cookies for 14 minutes, until lightly golden, but they shouldn't be heavily browned. Let them cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes, then carefully remove to a rack to cool completely. They're especially fragile when they're slightly warm, so handle with care ! Fill and sandwich the cookies together if you want to, but they're delicious enough on their own.

P.S: I did make a chocolate cake after all. I'll post the recipe tomorrow :)

Baguettes With Air

'Tis the third day of Chinese New Year and I am still at my grampa's place. While it's a nice place to be, I am a little worried for my productivity level since I don't actually have an oven here and I don't have to cook anything. I don't have to clean the house or worry about homework. So what do I actually do ? This is what a typical - wait, who am I kidding - this is what I do here on a daily basis:

1. Wake up around 6.30am. Eat a couple of cookies and some fruit and a cup of tea before heading off for a jog around the neighbourhood. With the exception of today, where I woke up an hour later and watched some tv before dragging my butt outside to run. 

2. Shower and do some laundry before eating some lunch.

3. Visit some relatives and play cards with my cousins. Apparently I suck at any card game so I gave up after the twentieth round. Then it's onto monopoly before everyone mooches around until dinner time. Or maybe I'll get sleepy and sneak in a nap.

4. After a long and heavy dinner(there is a ridiculous amount of dishes on the table at this time of year), it's back to either cards or board games or more mooching around before bedtime. 

With all that eating and mooching around, I think I'm beginning to turn into a potato of sorts. You know, the potato of the sits-on-the-couch-and-watches-telly-all-day fame. Give me a few more days and I am afraid I will resemble these baguettes:

Which really don't resemble baguettes at all. More like brown elongated tortoises without legs or something.

But they aren't just any baguettes. They're hole-y baguettes ! Please excuse the lame pun.

To be honest, I'm not the biggest fan of bread. I think I've mentioned that before. I prefer my carbs from other sources, ie, potatoes. I love potatoes in any form, boiled and mashed or steamed and tossed with mayo or fried or roasted or baked with a mountain of cheese. Compared to the potato, bread just seems... Meh. Come to think of it, maybe that's why I am beginning to turn into one.

But my dad on the other hand, can't get enough of bread. And since he's begun to make requests for 'lighter' bread, I was happy to oblige. Unfortunately I just discovered that his definition of lighter meant fluffy bread, and the ones he had in mind were brioche buns. Which, once you've made them, you'll know isn't actually that light. At least not in the healthy sense.

I figured baguettes with air seemed like a good thing to bake. I mean, it doesn't get any lighter than that. No butter ? Air ? They do take a few days to make, but it isn't actually much work. The bread takes that long because it has to sit and ferment in the fridge. If you've never made sourdough before, it might seem a little weird to have a bowl of ever-inflating dough sitting beside the jars of jam and blocks of butter in your refrigerator. But when you pull it out, shape it and bake it off, you'll be rewarded with that bread-in-the-oven scent that is not unlike those bakeries that you can't pass without buying a croissant or two or five. Or maybe it's just me.

Even the smell of the fermented dough is lovely. It's sour-ish but not in an unpleasant way, kind of like how yogurt is tangy but in a good way. Or like how the best cheeses smell. That being said, sourdough bread isn't sour. It tastes like.. Really good bread. And really good bread takes like what, four ingredients ? And it isn't even hard to make. Sure, it takes more folding and shaping than most but even those aren't difficult. And if you make them for the bread monster in your house, they'll love you more for it. 

Slice and serve with liberal amounts of butter (what my dad does). Or let stale and make French toast/bread pudding (what I do).

Baguettes with Air

Recipe taken and adapted from this site here.

Makes 4 baguettes.

1 1/4 tsp active dry yeast

450g warm water

3/4 tsp sea salt

567g bread flour, plus more to dust 

1 tbsp olive oil, plus more for greasing

1. Mix the yeast with a little of the warm water and let sit for five minutes to activate it. 

2. Add the rest of the water, salt and flour, then mix until it forms a rough dough. Let it rest in the bowl for 5 minutes. Mix in the oil, working the dough for about a minute. It should be smooth and pliable.

3. Put the dough in another oiled bowl. Leave to rest for 10 minutes. Put the dough on an oiled surface and gently stretch it into a square. Divide the dough visually into thirds. Then fold the top third over the middle, then fold the bottom third over, like a you would a letter. Divide it visually into thirds again, then fold the left third over the middle, then the right third over the, like a letter. This is one stretch and fold treatment. Put the dough back in the bowl, seam side down. Let rest for 10 minutes.

4. Repeat the stretch and fold process three more times for a total of 4 stretch and fold treatments, letting the dough rest for 10 minutes in between treatments. Cover the bowler the plastic wrap and leave to ferment for at least 2 days and up to 4 days in the fridge (I followed the author and took it out after 3 days).

5. Let the dough come to room temperature for 3 hours. Tip it out carefully onto an oiled surface. At this stage it should smell like sourdough - delightful. Cut the dough into four pieces. Take one piece and carefully stretch it into a rectangle. Fold the rectangle into thirds like for the stretch and fold treatment, like you would fold a letter or croissant dough. Place it seam side down on some lightly oiled parchment paper. Repeat with the other three pieces of dough. Cover with plastic wrap and let rest 1 hour.

6. Gently stretch each piece and fold into thirds again, cover and leave them to rest for 1 hour. Repeat the process one more time, then cover and let rest while you preheat the oven to 250C, around 20 minutes. Lightly dust the dough with flour, then pick up of piece and gently drag into a long baguette while twisting it a little. Place the pieces on greased baking sheets. Put them in the oven and throw in 1/2 cup of water on the bottom of the oven. Quickly shut the door so the steam doesn't escape - it's an important part in the texture of the baked breads.

7. Bake the baguettes for 10 minutes, then lower the oven temperature to 230C, bake for another 10-15 minutes until the bottoms sound hollow when tapped and the breads are golden brown. Remove them from the trays and cool them on a baking rack.

Taiwanese Pineapple Tarts

HAPPY CHINESE NEW YEAR !

And in the spirit of all things red and prosperous, I bring you:

Heart shaped pineapple tarts.

Why hearts ?

There are two kinds of pineapple tarts. One is the traditional type of pineapple tarts, like these or these. They're a little smaller and the pastry can be a little savory because I've seen people put cheese in it. While I love cheese, I don't really want it in my pineapple tarts.

Another one is the Taiwanese style of pineapple tarts. These are square and larger than the traditional ones and the jam is totally encased in pastry. And the pastry in case is always sweet. And it's a shade crumblier(if that's even a word) than the traditional Chinese ones. They're baked in square molds to get that square shape and since I couldn't find square molds or cookie cutters, I had to make do with hearts.

I have loved Taiwanese pineapple tarts for as long as I can remember. And I don't even remember the first time I tried them - I think it was when a friend of my moms gave a box of them to us as a gift. I'm not even sure if they have these in Taiwan.. And my mom rarely (read - doesn't) buy them, so the only option I had was to make them myself. So I did. And after four or five unsatisfactory attempts (I didn't use cookie cutters or molds prior to this so they sorta spread out but were still tasty), I finally got a batch that I'm pleased with. These are cute and when they bake, exude a sweet, milky smell that makes me think of caramels and milk and milk caramels. 

As I type this, I'm sitting on the floor playing cards with my cousins. I haven't done this in a while, and it's safe to say I've missed it. The number of people going back to my grampa's place are slowly dwindling as the number of cousins getting married are increasing. The number of mosquitoes remain the same and I think the amount of sugar I consume makes my blood seem like an attractive snack for the little insects *scratch*.

Pastry recipe taken from here. I did substitute part of the flour with cornstarch and I really recommend you do the same because it gives the pastry a melting quality that I love love love. I also used heart shaped cookie cutters because one: I thought they were cute and two: I couldn't find square ones, for some reason. So it became a CNY treat with a Valentine-ish theme.

As for the pineapple paste, I followed this recipe:

860g ripe pineapple, peeled and cored

135g caster sugar (more to taste)

1. Chop the pineapple into cubes and put them in a food processor. Blend until very finely chopped or smooth - I went for smooth. Pour into a wok.

2. Cook over medium to medium-high heat, stirring, until the juices have evaporated and the mixture is dry. This could take around half an hour.
3. Add half of the sugar and stir until dissolved. The mixture will release some more juice at this point, so cook until the juices have evaporated. Stir in the remaining sugar until dissolved. Taste the jam (be careful, it's hot) and add a sugar one tablespoon at a time, if you think it's too sour. How sweet it is will depend on the pineapple you have. 

4. Cook over medium-low heat, stirring, until the jam is very thick and forms a ball of sorts. It won't be like the jam you see in jars, it'll look almost like a stiff dough. This will take at least forty five more minutes of cooking, and could take up to two hours. I usually cook it for an hour before taking it off the heat. Leave the jam to cool completely before rolling into balls and filling the tarts.

Checkerboard Cookies

It is midnight again and here I am still up and eating a banana as I type this. Yes, a banana. Some people eat chocolate cake when they can't sleep, or curry or leftovers (ahemNigellaahem - but she looks so good doing it) but I eat bananas. Don't judge.

I've been a little knackered due to the baking of cookies these days so I took a nice long nap in the afternoon today.. And now I'm wide awake. Damn. I'm not one for power naps too, where you just sleep for ten minutes and wake up bright and chipper. I nap for ten minutes and I wake up looking and sounding like the Grinch. Not a pretty sight.

And then tomorrow - wait, it's techically today since it's Wednesday already - we'll be heading back to my gramma's house, also known as my parents' childhood home 500 kilometers away from here. It's a minimum of four hours in the car if the traffic is smooth, eight if it's horrible. Trust me, eight hours in the car isn't fun. Even after two, my legs are twitching and my bum hurts. 

But I want to go back. I haven't been back in a year. It's very quiet there, being a sort of countryside and all. There aren't many cars on the road, the air is clean and fresh smelling and then occasionally the random chicken wanders into the house. While I couldn't live there, it's a nice getaway. Plus, my cousin is getting married ! It's two wonderful things in one - a family reunion and a wedding. Eeep I'm so excited now...

Anyway, these checkerboard cookies came about when I was flicking through some cookbooks the other day and decided that I was tired of making macarons and butter cookies and for some reason, it seemed like a brilliant idea to be making and cutting and stacking layers of dough. So I made the cookies once, for my aunt, then had to make them another time for my gramma. I love these cookies (who wouldn't ? They look so pretty and smell so good when they're nice and warm) but I'm all checkered out. So I strongly advise you to make them once and make lots. Double the batch if you want to. Just make loads and eke them out. You won't regret it.

Note: the ends of the log come out kind of nubbly and wonky looking. But they get prettier when you get to the centre. No big deal, just dispose of the ugly ends - I don't think you need me to tell you how :)

Checkerboard Cookies

For the vanilla dough:

120g all purpose flour

20g almond flour/meal

60g icing sugar

1/4 tsp salt

20g egg (beat in a bowl then measure out the amount needed)

70g unsalted butter, room temperature

1 tsp vanilla extract

For the chocolate dough:

105g all purpose flour

15g cocoa powder

20g almond flour/meal

60g icing sugar

1/4 tsp salt

20g egg

70g unsalted butter

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 egg white, beaten until foamy

1. Make the vanilla dough: beat the butter and icing sugar until fluffy. Add the egg and vanilla, beat until combined. Sift in the flour, almond meal and salt, beat until the mixture forms a soft dough. Don't overbeat.

2. Gather the dough into a ball and press into a flat disc. Wrap with clingfilm and chill for half an hour.

3. Make the chocolate dough: beat the butter and icing sugar until fluffy, then add the egg and vanilla and beat until well combined. Sift in the flour, cocoa powder, almond meal and salt and beat until the mixture forms a soft dough. Don't overbeat.

4. Gather the dough into a ball and press into a flat disc. Wrap with clingfilm and chill for half an hour.

To assemble: Take out both the chocolate and vanilla dough. Roll them separately into squares about half an inch thick. 

Using a pastry brush, brush a little beaten egg white on the chocolate dough. 

Stack the vanilla dough on top of the chocolate dough, making sure the edges are aligned for a prettier finish.

Cut the stacked dough in half lengthways. 

And brush some beaten egg white over one of the halves.

Stack the unbrushed half over the brushed half so you get four layers of dough, like this.

Trim the raggedy edges with a sharp knife. Cut the dough lengthways into four equally wide strips. Use a ruler if you want.

Now take one of the strips and brush the cut side with egg white. Take another strip and turn in upside down, then stick it to the first strip so the vanilla dough is aligned with the chocolate dough. Brush the cute side with more egg white, then stick on a third piece of dough so the colors are alternating. Brush again with more white and stick on the last piece of dough. You should have a block of dough with strips of vanilla, chocolate, vanilla, and chocolate. Something like this.

Whatever trimmings you have, you can smooth into a log to make marble cookies later.

Wrap the checkered log and the marbled log tightly with cling film. Press the checkered one into a square. Chill both the logs in the freezer until solid.

All you have to do next is preheat the oven to 170C and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Then take out the checkered log and slice into 1/3 inch thick slices. Place on the baking sheet 1/2 an inch apart, and bake for 12-15 minutes until the edges are a light golden brown. Cool for 10 minutes on the baking sheet before removing to a wire rack to cool completely. Repeat with the rest of the log and the marbled log as well.

The ends of the log always bake up a little garbled.

Store in an airtight container and eat over the course of a week. 

Brownie Truffles (Or Truffle Brownies ?)

Chinese New Year is in five days, new clothes have been purchased, the goodies are being given and I am annoyed.

The cookie making in my kitchen has been in full swing for the past week. Today saw me baking another batch of chocolate chip cookies (of which the recipe I am scared to post since so many blogs in the blogosphere have so many brilliant recipes) to be given as gifts. I have previously made chocolate chip and walnut cookies, madeleines and some checkerboard cookies of which the recipe I shall be posting soon. Normally I don't mind the baking but there was a miscommunication (who says grown ups have their head screwed on right, huh ?) which had me running around the kitchen making all three types of said cookies in one day. Then there was another miscommunication today (with the same person) which had me in the kitchen making yet another batch of chocolate chippies when I could've just mashed the two separate batches into one. Needless to say, I am up to my eyeballs in cookies and chocolate chips. 

I could either get mad or get over it. I decided to drown myself in chocolate. Thank god for the pan of brownies I had the foresight to make yesterday.

Actually it wasn't. Foresight, that is. I just saw the picture of some brownies and then the words melt in your mouth and truffle caught my eye and took over my mind and before I knew it, I was at the stove, stirring away. I made a really small batch (the original recipe yields a 9 by 5 inch block. This is small by my standards because my brownies used to measure 9 by 13 inches huge) and then stashed it in the fridge in anticipation for the cutting.

The brownies came in handy today when I was tired and covered in butter and had chocolate chips strewn in random places in the kitchen. The fact that ilovebrowniesmorethananythinginthewholewideworld and that these particular ones were gooey and more fudge than brownie helped a lot, I suppose.

Now there are two sides to the brownie world: fudgy versus cakey. I am so deep in the fudgy camp that I want my brownies bordering on fudge. As in stick-to-the-roof-of-your-mouth-and-can-only-be-washed-down-with-a-glass-of-milk type of brownie. The kind where you have to literally peel them apart after you cut them, they're so sticky. Cakey brownies have no room in my heart. Or kitchen.

And these are by far the fudgiest brownies I have ever made or eaten. And believe me, I have made (and eaten) a lot of brownies.

Dense slabs of chocolate, these are. They began to soften due to the heat of my hands (I had to maneuver them to get the best pictures) and when I took a bite, they practically melted away. Not your average run-of-the-mill brownie :)

They stuck to everything. My knife, my fingers, the plate. While licking the plate and fingers are perfectly acceptable behaviour, I strongly discourage licking the knife. That would be very stupid. Just cut yourself another piece.

Melt-In-Your-Mouth Brownie Truffles

Adapted from this site.

1/3 cup whole milk

1/4 cup caster sugar

1/2 tsp sea salt

100g dark chocolate, chopped 

90g butter

1 egg, beaten

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 tsp flour
Cocoa powder, to coat (optional)

1. Preheat the oven to 180C and line a 9 by 5 inch pan with parchment paper.

2. Place the milk, sugar and salt in a saucepan over medium low heat, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Don't let it boil ! Once the sugar and salt are dissolved, stir in the chocolate.

3. When the chocolate has melted, stir in the butter until it melts. It should look like a yummy chocolate sauce at this point. Stir in the vanilla and the egg just till it's mixed in. Don't beat too much, you don't want to aerate the mixture. We're going for fudgy here, people. 

4. Stir in the flour until no streaks of white remain. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 20-25 minutes, until set. Immediately pop it into the fridge and leave to chill until the next day (makes it easier to cut, trust me).

5. Lift the brownies out of the pan and cut into 1 inch squares. You can make them smaller if you want, they're really rich. The original recipe said to roll them in cocoa powder like you would for truffles, and I recommend that because I think the cocoa would provide another layer of chocolatey-ness and make it looks really elegant. So pour some cocoa powder into a shallow dish and roll the brownie truffles around in them to coat. As you can see, I left mine I coated because one: I'm lazy and two: I needed my brownie fix NOW.