Cookies & Cake

Again I shall blame myself for leaving my blog unattended for almost 2 months. Knock on the head "piak" :p

Hi all today we are talking about cookies & cake, and below are some cookies and cake that i made for deepavali. Well actually i was suppose to blog and post the recipes right after baking, but then was so tide up with deepavali, and my newborn nephew and of course eating the cookies that i missed blogging about it.

Well, perhaps this recipes could be useful after this for anyone who is going to celebrate Christmas, or Chinese New Year or ponggal or which ever la..

The butter biscuit was of course a family recipe, it’s so super simple to make, and it just melts in your mouth so fine with its buttery and vanilla flavor.

The second and third, is a recipe i plucked from Anna Olson. Usually, something might turn out wrong when you try celebrity recipes, but Anna Olson's recipes turned out perfect! The chocolate chip cookie and Chocolate Mint Truffle Cake was really nice and easy to make. Her instructions were clear, and her recipes are just too tempting to resist.

The pictures below were taken after i prepared them. (It’s my own photo’s okey: p).

So check it out, try them and enjoy.

P/S Some who may read this blog had tried these desserts for deepavali. So please feel free to comment ya :D.

Well, here they are :-

Butter Biscuit – Vegetarian

Ingredients
7oz / 196g - Butter (cream butter without oil)
3oz/ 84g - Icing sugar
8oz / 224g - Plain all purpose flour (wheat flour)
2bsp - Cornflour
½ tspn - Vanilla essence

Baking time
- 180 Celsius.
- Regulo 4
- From 5 to 15 minutes (depending on the oven).
- Make sure the corners of the biscuit is lightly browned after baking.

Method
1. Beat butter and icing sugar till smooth.
2. Add vanilla essence.
3. Add flour and mix to a dough.
4. Cut / press to design and bake.



Chocolate Chip Cookie by Anna Olson



Ingredients
¾ cup - Unsalted cream butter
1 cup - Brown sugar
¼ cup - Granulated sugar
1 - Egg
2 tspn - Vanilla essence
2 cups - Plain all purpose flour (wheat flour) – (Sieve flour)
2 tspn - Cornflour
1tspn - Baking soda
½ tspn - salt
8oz/224g - Bitter sweet chocolate sweet chips

Baking time
- 180 degree Celsius
- Regulo 4
- From 8 to 10 minutes.
- Make sure the corners of the cookie are slightly brown after baking.

Method
1. Preheat oven.
2. Cream butter with sugar. Once mixed well add egg, vanilla essence and blend all together.
3. Add flour, cornstarch, baking powder and salt to the mixture and blend all together.
4. Stir in the chocolate chips and mix lightly, not smashing the chips
5. Prepare tray with parchment paper (or spread of butter).
6. Spoon dough to the tray. Bake, cool and serve.




Chocolate Mint Truffle Cake

This picture above was taken from Anna Olson's website.


This was made by myself. I just created a star cutout and sprinkled icing sugar for decoration.

Ingredients
Cake
*(The cake recipe below is for 1 layer. Need to make 2 layers (twice the cake recipe below, for the outcome as per the picture above)

3/4 cup hot brewed coffee
1 1/2 oz semisweet chocolate, chopped
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
3/4 cup regular cocoa powder (not Dutch pressed)
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp fine salt
1 large egg
1 large egg white
6 tbsp vegetable oil
3/4 cup buttermilk
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp peppermint extract

Truffle Glaze
* (This glaze is for 2 layers of cake. If you are only making 1 layer, then divide this recipe to half the amount)

18 oz semisweet chocolate, chopped
1 cup + 2 tbsp unsalted butter, cut into pieces
2 tbsp golden corn syrup
1 tsp peppermint extract

Baking time
- 300 degrees F
- Regulo 4
- From 1 hour to 1 hour 10 minutes

Method

Cake
1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees F. and grease and line a 10-inch springform pan with parchment, then grease paper.
2. Pour freshly brewed coffee over chocolate and gently stir to melt. Set aside.
3. Sift sugar, flour, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder and salt and set aside. In a large bowl, beat eggs on high speed for 1 minute.
4. While beating, slowly add oil, buttermilk and extracts. Alternate adding flour mixture and chocolate mixture and beat until combined.
5. Pour batter into prepared pan and bake for 1 hour to 1 hour and 10 minutes, until a tester inserted in the centre of the cake comes out clean. Allow cake to cool for 20 minutes in the pan, then remove to cool completely.

Truffle Glaze
1. For truffle glaze, place chocolate, butter and corn syrup in a bowl over barely simmering water and stir gently until melted and glossy. Stir in extract.
Assembly
1. To assemble, trim barely ½-inch from outside of cake and slice in half horizontally. Place one layer of cake in bottom of clean 10-inch springform pan. Spread a third of the truffle glaze over the layer, pushing it over the sides of the cake. Top with second layer and spread all but ¼ cup of glaze over top layer, pushing glaze over sides. Chill cake for at least 3 hours before unmolding.
2. To unmold, press a hot towel around the sides of the cake to melt slightly. Loosen springform ring carefully, and run a spatula around side of cake smooth, if needed. Melt reserve glaze and drizzle over top of cake. Slice cake with a hot, dry knife and enjoy!