For those of you that follow this blog, you would know that I am not really a biscuit/cookie person. Sure, I love to eat them but I dont often have the patience to make them preferring to bake cakes anytime.
That is not to say that I have never baked cookies/biscuits. I have and I will continue to do so. My two darling kids love chocolate chip cookies and they love the ready-mix Betty Crocker Chocolate Chip cookies. I'm usually very against using ready-mixed anything but somehow the Betty Crocker ones turn out really well and are really very tasty. It's getting harder to find the Betty Crocker premixes here but we had two packets on hand not too long ago when some of Michael's friends came over for a school project.
I decided to whip up the Pre-Mix for them and they all devoured the cookies singing my praises. I started to feel a little guilty especially when one of the more more gregarious kids in the gang, Fahad, sauntered into the kitchen and asked me if the cookies were "made from scratch or did they come out of a packet." I couldn't very well lie, especially when the packet was in full view!
So anyway, I decided I had to redeem myself. I had to know whether I could whip up Choc Chip cookies from scratch that were as good as the ones the Betty Crocker premixed and sold in packets. I surfed the web and found the Betty Crocker recipe for Choc Chip cookies and I proceeded to make it from scratch.
The original recipe calls for 3/4 cup caster sugar and 3/4 cup brown sugar but I went with using brown sugar all the way.
Ingredients
1.5 cups brown sugar
250g butter , softened
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 egg
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup coarsely chopped nuts
12 ounces semisweet chocolate chips (2 cups)
Method
Heat oven to 190ºF.
Mix sugars, butter, vanilla and egg in large bowl. Stir in flour, baking soda and salt (dough will be stiff). Stir in nuts and chocolate chips.
Drop dough by rounded tablespoonfuls about 2 inches apart onto ungreased cookie sheet. I use non-stick paper.
Bake 15-20 minutes or until light brown. Cool slightly; remove from cookie sheet. Cool on wire rack.
Dharm's Tip: To keep the cookies from spreading out too much, chill the dough in the fridge for a litle while after dropping them on the cookie sheets.
I didnt use any nuts this time but I'm sure the addition of nuts would be just as good if not better!
Baking it for 15 minutes still produces a soft bake cookie that I prefer but The Lovely Wife likes a hard and crisp cookie instead. Regardless of whether it is soft baked or crisp baked, this recipe produces a lovely cookie that you just cant stop eating.
Some of the cookies spread out a bit, especially in the hot weather here, so while one tray baked, I placed the other tray in the fridge. This helped and the cookies didn't spread out so much.
The kids and The Lovely Wife loved the cookies and proclaimed them better than the Betty Crocker premix. Looking at the recipe, it is not at all difficult and takes up about the same time to make as the premix. The best thing about making it from scratch is that you know exactly what is going into the cookie and there is no chance of 'secret' ingredients or preservatives.
The true test came when the kids took some of the cookies to school. According to them, all their friends loved the cookies with one of my daughter's friends proclaiming it "the best choc chip cookie" she has ever eaten. Another of Michael's friends asked him "Does your father have anything to do with Famous Amos?" All lovely compliments but I know these cookies, although remarkable in their own right, are not of the same caliber as Famous Amos and are definitely not the best in the world.
It was nice though to redeem myself not only in my own mind but also in the eyes of my darling kids and The Lovely Wife. So who needs Betty Crocker premixes anymore!
Sunday, 18 March 2012
Chocolate Chip Cookies - a recipe vs a packet!
Friday, 9 March 2012
Boozy Cheesy Cherry Cake
Many weeks ago - in January - one of our good friends, Elison, celebrated her birthday and we invited her over for dinner together with another good friend, Lynn. I've mentioned before that Eli is a great cook who also has very high standards so I'm always a bit nervous when baking a cake for her - especially her birthday cake!
The Lovely Wife suggested that I do something different instead of always going down the route of chocolate. I considered making her my Chocolate Trifle that she adores but then decided to try and dazzle her with something new.
She likes fruity cakes and she likes chocolate as well. She also likes a bit of booze in her desserts so I decided on a Boozy Cheesy Cherry Cake. You get the idea, some cream cheese, some cherries and some booze paired together with a chocolate sponge. I also added in some shaved chocolate for a bit of a crunch.
I used the recipe for a Chocolate Genoise from Le Cordon Bleu Home Collection-Chocolate and this is what I did.
Ingredients
Chocolate Genoise REcipe
4 Eggs
100g Caster Sugar
80g Plain flour
2 Tbsp Cocoa Powder
20g Butter, melted
1 Can Black Cherries
5 tsp Cherry Syrup from can
50ml Rum
125g Cream Cheese
400ml Whipping Cream
3 Tbsp Icing Sugar
100g bar of dark chocolate, chopped
Cocoa for dusting
Method
To make the sponge: preheat the oven to 180C. Butter and flour a 8 inch springform pan. Half fill a saucepan with water and bring to the boil. Remove from heat. Put the eggs and sugar into a large heatproof bowl and place over the saucepan making sure it is not touching the water. Using electric beaters, whisk for 5-10 minutes until the mixture is thick and light, has doubled in volume and leaves a trail as it falls from the beaters. The temperature of the mixture should never be hot, only warm. Remove the bowl from the pan of water and continue to beat until cold. Sift the flour and cocoa together and carefully fold into the whisked mixture with a large metal spoon until just combined. Stop folding as soon as flour and cocoa are combined or mixture will lose its volume. Gently but quickly fold in the warm butter. Pour the mixture into the tin and gently smooth the top with the back of the spoon. Bake on the middle shelf of oven for about 25-30 minutes or until springy and shrinking from the sides of the tin. Turn out onto a wire rack to cool. Clean the cake tin so it is ready to use later.
For cheese mix: Whip cream with icing sugar till stiff. Beat the cheese till soft then combine with the cream till smooth. Set aside.
Once cake is cool, cut into two halves. Place first half into bottom of cake tin. Mix together syrup from tin with rum. Soak the cake with half the rum/syrup mixture. Place a layer of cherries over the cake then cover with a little of the cream mixture. Add on the chopped chocolate and then cover with another thin layer of cream. Cover with the next half of cake and then cover with cream. Dust top of cake with cocoa and arrange some cherries on top.
The cake turned out really well. It was a little bit like a mix between a Black Forest and a Tiramisu but without the coffee flavour. The cheesy cream was lightly flavoured and went very well with the cherries. 
The Birthday Girl, Elison gave it the thumbs up as did Lynn as well as the kids and The Lovely Wife. I must say I was rather pleased with how the cake turned out both in terms of looks as well as taste. So one more successful original cake recipe to add to my list!
Saturday, 3 March 2012
Salmon with Cream Cheese rollups
I'm still very late and trying to play catch up! It's a good thing that I haven't been that busy in the kitchen so I don't have a whole lot of backlog as catching up is bad enough as it is!
So, what do you make for an appetiser when you have some smoked salmon in your fridge? I got a package of smoked salmon from my mom. Someone had given it to her and she thought I would put it to better use as well as enjoy it more. The Lovely Wife and the kids enjoyed one package with some Pasta I threw together and then I used the next package for this appetiser when Lynn and Ms Lor Siak Por came over for dinner back in January (Yes, I'm that Late! Late I tell you, Late! )
Ms LSP had heard about the Roast Pork I made for Christmas and 'demanded' that I make her the same. Now Ms LSP makes a wicked Roast Pork herself albeit the Chinese type (Siew Yoke) so I had to make sure that at least the appetiser would be something special. Smoked Salmon is always special in itself but when rolled with cream cheese and dill - ah, even more special!
This appetiser is really easy to do although the rolling can be a little cumbersome. Not that difficult really. This is what I did:
Ingredients
200g Smoked Salmon slices
125g Cream Cheese
75ml Whipping Cream
Two large handfulls Dill
Black Pepper
Capers
Method
Whip Cheese till soft. Add in the whipping cream and continue beating till light and fluffy. Season with dill and black pepper. Spread the salmon with the cheese mix and then roll up. Cut into bit size pieces and place on a plate. Pipe in remaining cheese mixture into the salmon rollups till full. Place a caper on top. Sprinkle with more black pepper and keep in fridge till ready to serve.
Once cut, plated and sprinkled with pepper, the Salmon Rolls actually looked very presentable. They were bite size and very easy to eat and the creamy cheese offset the smoked saltiness of the Salmon. 
As I said, a very easy yet delicious dessert and something that tastes as good as it looks!
Thursday, 1 March 2012
Almond Choc Chip Chinese New Year Cake
I'm late
I'm late
For a very important date.
No time to say "Hello, Goodbye".
I'm late, I'm late, I'm late.
Yes, Late, Late, Late! Chinese New Year has come and gone and I'm only now posting about the cake I made for Ms Lor Siak Porfor Chinese New Year 2012!
Taking a cake over to Ms LSP's for her Chinese New Year parties has become something of a tradition. It's the least we can do since Ms LSP always feeds us with some awesome food! This year, I fell in love with her Abacus Yam dish. The dish is basically yam shaped into abacus like discs and then cooked with minced meat and all sorts of other stuff. I dont know how to make it nor what goes into the dish but is really yummy. You'll have to ask her how it's made but trust me when I say it's delicious.
I always feel I need to make something different to tantalise Ms LSP's taste buds. She is one person that I really enjoy baking for as she is honest and will tell you if the cake doesn't meet up to her expectations. She also doesn't ooh and ahh for the sake of oohing and aahing but will tell you what she really thinks.
So for this year, I decided I would make a Choc Chip Almond cake topped with my usual Chocolate Ganache. This being the year of the dragon I piped out a dragon on top of the cake.
No, I dont have good piping skills, what I did was to make a royal icing and pipe it over a printed out picture of a dragon. Then I carefully moved it over to the cake. Rather clever of me I thought!
For the cake, I flirted with the idea of making a blondie - the vanilla version of a Brownie. What I did was meld the method of a brownie with my butter cake recipe and this is what I came up with.
Ingredients
250g Butter
230g Brown Sugar
4 Eggs
230g Flour
2.5 tsp Baking Powder
2 tsp Vanilla
100g Choc Chips
100g Almonds (nibs or chopped)
Chocolate Ganache
150g Dark Chocolate
200ml Cream
Sugar to taste
Method
Melt the butter and let cool. Beat in sugar. Add in eggs one at a time till creamy. Sift flour together with baking powder and fold into the mixture. Add in vanilla, nuts and choc chips. Mix well. Spread into a lined baking pan and bake in a preheated 170C oven for about 40 minutes or till done.
For the topping, heat the cream and then pour over the chocolate. Mix well and add sugar to taste. Allow to cool slightly then spread over top and sides of cake.
My kids reckoned that the dragon looked a little bit like a prawn but fortunately Ms LSP and her guests all knew it was a Dragon! 
I think the cake turned out pretty well and Ms LSP gave me the thumbs up. Thanks for a great lunch Ms LSP and here's a belated wish to everyone for a Very Happy Chinese New Year! May the year of the Dragon bring you lots of peace, love and prosperity. Gong Xi Fa Cai!
