Cashew Nut Cookies

I'm one of those people who likes to give homemade gifts away to other people during festive seasons. Some people might think me a cheapskate or slightly weird or that I just have too much time on my hands, especially when its so much simpler to pop into a store and buy a prettily packaged tasty treat these days. But I am a traditionalist when it comes to gifting - I think it just says so much more when a person puts in time and love to make something just for you to enjoy.

So just as that time of year comes rolling around, I push up my sleeves, get my tools out and get busy - usually baking. You can see some of my previous attempts here. Admittedly I also use this as an excuse to test out ideas that I like or new craft techniques I want to try :)

Anyways, this Hari Raya season I wanted to bake some yummies to give to all the relatives whose houses we were invited to and there was no way I would turn up empty handed. Naturally I had to come up with something local that fit the season so I decided to try my hand at making one of my all time favourites : cashew nut cookies. 

I looked around online for recipes and found that it was a lot harder to pick one that I thought. For starters, I've tried different types of store-bought cookies and the ones I liked best were crumbly yet crunchy. It was hard to tell from pictures which one would give me that result. Some of the recipes were also a lot simpler than others in terms of ingredients and it got me wondering whether the traditional recipes were actually that simple after all. In the end, I reckon it'll be a matter of trying a bunch of recipes before finding one that suits my taste. 

With that said, I went ahead with baking a huge batch of cookies following the recipe from Kitchen Tigress. Despite that, my cookies did not turn out like hers, my batter was a lot runnier and I ended up putting it in the fridge for some time to harden up before I could shape it. I could not use my cookie cutter as it was too sticky so I just made balls of dough and pressed the nuts on to them. 

Start by splitting your cashew nuts in halves. Keep the nicer looking ones for the tops of your cookies (about 150g worth). Toast ALL of the nuts for  about 15 mins at 180 degrees Celsius until theres a rich aroma and the nuts are a golden brown colour. Put the nice looking ones aside for later. For the remaining 200g of nuts, grind them in a food processor until its a fine powder.

 

The rest of the recipe is below. As I mentioned, my dough was still pretty runny so I wrapped it in cellophane and put it in the fridge to stiffen up. I found it easier to make little balls and press the nice cashew nut on top. 

Be careful about crowding your cookie sheet! These cookies spread quite a bit while baking. 

Unfortunately, I didn't take any photos before the cookies went into the oven and after they came out. But you can see how they turned out and they actually did taste a lot better than they looked. Still though, it wasn't quite the crumbly cookies I had envisioned so my search for the ultimate recipe continues. 

In the meantime, Eid Mubarak to everyone! Hope you all had a wonderful festive season :)

Make Your Own!
Recipe adapted from Kitchen Tigress.

150 g unsalted butter
180 g caster sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 large egg
1/4 tsp salt
200 g plain flour, sifted
1/2 tsp baking powder

200 g raw cashew nuts - bake nuts at 180 degrees Celcius till golden brown and fragrant. Leave to cool then mince in a food processor until fine

150 g raw cashew nut halves - bake nuts at 180 degrees Celcius till golden brown and fragrant.

1 egg, beaten, for egg wash

1. Whisk butter and sugar until pale and fluffy. Add egg, vanilla and salt. Add flour and baking powder. Mix in ground nuts. If its sticky, add 1 - 2 tablespoons of flour or chill till its firm enough to handle. 

2. Pinch dough and form small balls and press lightly on a baking tray lined with baking paper, leaving 2-inch space between cookies as they will spread during baking. Brush the tops of cookies with egg, place a cashew nut halve on top and brush with egg again. 

3. Bake at 170 degree Celcius for 12 - 15 mins, until cookies are golden brown. Leave to cool on a wire rack then transfer to an air tight container. 

Chocolate Cupcakes with Peanutbutter Frosting

I have yet another confession to make: I only discovered the amazing-ness that was Chocolate and Peanutbutter together some 4 months ago. Yes, thats right. For an entire 29 years, I considered this to be a bizarre combination but just as I crossed my last birthday, I finally made myself try it and OH MY GOD, what have I been missing!!!!

Needless to say that since then, I've been somewhat obsessed with this combination so it really was a matter of time before I had to make these for myself.

I started with a basic chocolate cake recipe, adapted from this one, and made a batch of cupcakes. What I especially love about this recipe is that the cake comes out wonderfully light and moist, perfect for a heavy topping like peanutbutter.

For the peanut butter frosting, I scouted the web for a recipe but ended up just kinda winging it. I knew I wanted the rich peanut butter flavour but it couldn't just taste like I spread the stuff straight out of the jar. It needed a smoother consistency for piping. I kept it pretty simple with just butter, peanut butter, icing sugar, vanilla extract and a pinch of salt.

I have to admit it was really yummy, I had to stop myself from "taste testing" all of it.

And ta da!

By far one of the yummiest cupcakes I've ever made, if I do say so myself. The cake was super soft and moist and not too sweet and the peanutbutter gave it just the right twang of sweet and salty. Delish!!

Make your own:

For the cake:
Basic Chocolate Cake - Baked as cupcakes.

For the frosting:
3/4 cup of unsalted butter, softened
1 1/4 cup smooth peanut butter
2 1/2 cups icing sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tbs milk
a pinch of salt

1. Cream butter and peanut butter together till smooth. Add vanilla extract.

2. Sift in icing sugar. You can add more if you prefer a sweeter buttercream. Personally I liked the stronger peanut butter taste.

3. If your butter cream is too thick or sticky, you can add in 1 - 2 tablespoons of milk to get the consistency you prefer.

4. Add a pinch of salt.

This is a good stiff icing that holds shapes well so I went with a large star tip and made simple swirls.

Enjoy!

White Chocolate and Strawberry Muffins

My husband is a huge fan of white chocolate. Personally I'm not a fan of the stuff but I know he loves it so when I had a bunch of extra strawberries on hand recently, I decided to make White Chocolate and Strawberry muffins for him. 

I was surprised that there weren't many recipes for it online - mostly found recipes for strawberry cupcakes with white chocolate buttercream or vice versa. I finally figured it shouldn't be too hard to come up with so I found a standard muffin recipe and then added in my two star ingredients at the end. Fold in carefully and be careful not to over mix.

Spooned into muffin cases.

And then baked at 180 degrees Celcius for about 15 mins. What I didn't expect when I baked these is that the white chocolate chips actually melted into the cake but this gave the cakes a wonderfully moist texture and a creamier sweetness which played off the tart strawberry perfectly.

Make your own!

White Chocolate and Strawberry Muffins

2 cups flour
1/2 cup sugar
1 tbs baking powder
3/4 tsp salt
1 egg, beaten
1 cup milk
1/4 butter, melted and slightly cooled
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup white chocolate chips
1 cup fresh strawberries, cut small

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees C. Line your muffin tray.

2. Combine your dry ingredients in a bowl and set aside.

3. In a separate bowl, mix butter, egg, milk and vanilla. Slowly mix in dry ingredients. At the end, fold in the chocolate chips and strawberries until just incorporated.

4. Spoon batter into prepared cups. Bake for about 15 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.

5. Enjoy muffins with a cup of tea!

Red Velvet Cupcakes Again

This is not a new recipe but definitely a favourite :) We made these yesterday on request from a friend and I was really pleased with how they turned out. I particularly love this mini two-bites size because it yields something like 80 + cupcakes which is perfect for sharing and giving away (while still having lots left for yourself!) Yum!

You can check out the recipe here and bake your own!

Sorry for the hiatus!

Its been a LONG time since I've updated this blog. I started a new business and had another baby but I didn't stop baking. I can't wait to share some of the new recipes that I've tried so stay tuned for more!

Chocolate Cake With Chocolate Frosting

I made chocolate cake last week because Nic specifically requested for it. My husband loves chocolate cake and we have had many adventures going around various cafes to sample their chocolate cakes. I figured it was high time I learned how to... think of how much money we'd save!

Since it was my first time making chocolate cake from scratch (because before this I had been making the ready mix version by Betty Crocker), I decided to start with a recipe from my trusty Joy of Baking website. There were so many different types to choose from and I eventually settled on her Chocolate Butter Cake.

This is what hers looked like:

Mouth-watering right? So I off I went!

The recipe called for 4 ounces of chopped unsweetened chocolate. I was using the Nestle unsweetened chocolate bar and although it clearly states on the package that each square was half an ounce, I only chopped up 4 squares for some reason. So I started with 2 ounces of unsweetened chocolate.

 

You also need 1/3 cup of unsweetened cocoa powder. I used Valrhona. 

Mix the two and add 1 cup of boiling water to dissolve the chocolate in. 

Give it a mix and let it stand to cool while you mix the rest of the ingredients.

In a bowl, mix 2 1/4 cups of flour, 1 tsp baking soda, 2 tsp baking powder and 1/4 tsp of salt. In the blow of your mixer, cream 1 cup of unsalted butter and 2 cups of white sugar. Add in 3 large eggs, one at a time and 2 tsp of vanilla extract. Then add the chocolate mixture, scraping down the bowl as you go.

Add the flour mixture in 3 portions, interspersed with 1 cup of milk.

So far so good.

The original recipe said to pour the mixture into 2 9-inch cake pans. Here is when things went south for me. I had two 8 inch pans and figured an inch wouldn't make a difference. Pouring out the batter into my two pans, I found them to be a bit too full. Still, instead of having the sense to separate it, I went ahead to put the 1st pan in the oven. I couldn't fit two pans in there side by side and at least I had the sense that the cake would rise and that I couldn't put two shelves in.

It baked for about half an hour at 177 degrees C.

And then disaster struck. As I was taking the first pan out of the oven, the weight of the cake and my weak single handed grip resulted in the cake pan slipping out of my hand and landing in a heap on the cabinet.  I was devastated. I let out a slew of colorful expletives. I wanted to cry. Then I tried to salvage what I could before throwing the rest of it away.

I couldn't bear to throw away the whole thing. Plus, it actually tasted kinda good and it would just be a horrible waste.

Suddenly, I remembered something I had spotted online earlier in the week! It was one of the cutest ideas I'd seen in a while and I had been telling Nic about how I wanted to try it: Cake in a Jar!

Seriously, how cute is this? And so clever too! No more worrying about the frosting getting everywhere when you're transporting this cake. I had actually found it on a wedding site as an idea for an edible favor and thought it was simply brilliant.

So I dug around for the jars I had lying in my drawers and decided to make these myself.

(Meanwhile, I cleaned up the 1st pan, split the second pan's batter into two pans and was able to bake them on two shelves since I knew they wouldn't rise out of the pan too high this time. They came out rather perfectly after about 15 minutes.)

I went on to make the frosting. The recipe called for 5 ounces but I only 4 so I used what I had. First, melt the chocolate in a double-boiler. When melted, place the chocolate, 1/3 cup of milk, 4 cups of icing sugar, 1/8 tsp of salt and 1 1/2 tsp of vanilla extract in your mixer and beat well. Slowly beat in 1/2 cup of softened butter and beat on high. You can add more milk or sugar if necessary to achieve a nice spreading consistency. I didn't add much and my icing was still a little runny.

I was too lazy to trim the dome of my cake off (it didn't look that high to me!) and went straight onto spreading the icing on.

But my laziness resulted in my final cake looking pretty stupid as the top layer of cake split down the middle and the two halves slid down the sides of the domed slope of my bottom layer and I ended up having a lopsided cake. As you can understand, I didn't take any photos of it.

Instead, I went back to my jars. Using the broken cake, I alternated layers of cake and icing. I suppose doing this with cake and icing of different colors has a better effect but it worked out pretty good all the same I think.

I was so glad I managed to save the disaster cake and try out the cake in a jar idea. It definitely also made it much easier to give some of it away.

Taste-wise, I think it was one of the yummiest cakes I've ever made. No doubt my cake looked hideous and nothing like the cake it was supposed to look like but frankly, when we all got down to eating it, the looks really didn't matter. 

I eventually did take a photo of my cake... when we were almost done eating it. It kept pretty well in the fridge for a couple of days and honestly, didn't last more than a few days as we ate most of it.

The cake had a lush rich chocolately taste and a moist dense texture. The icing was also not too sweet and complimented the cake perfectly. It was seriously tasty. 

This is one cake that I'll definitely make again!

Make your own! The full recipe can be found here.

Chocolate Chip and Walnut Cookies

I have been a lover of the chocolate chip cookie for as long as I can remember. I have avid memories of when I was little and my parents would take me (yes, it was a time when I was their only child... this bliss only lasted about 4 years before my brother came along) out to the shopping mall where there was a Famous Amos bakery and the smell would waft throughout the mall and the shopping trip would invariably end with me begging for a bag of cookies because I couldn't take the smell teasing me anymore. When I got into baking, one of the first things I decided that I wanted to learn how to bake was a chocolate chip cookie. Since then, I've tried a lot of recipes and am still looking out for that perfect chocolate chip recipe.

I came across this one on Joy of Baking and decided to try it out for the Christmas season.

Start with 1 cup of butter, beating it until it is fluffy. Then add 3/4 cup of white sugar and 3/4 cup of light brown sugar (firmly packed) and cream together. Add 2 large eggs and 1 1/2 tsp of vanilla extract. In a separate bowl, mix 2 1/4 cups of flour, 1 tsp of baking soda and 1/2 tsp of salt. Slowly add the dry ingredients to the butter mixture. 

About half way through, add 1 1/2 cups of semi-sweet chocolate chips.

Give it a mix.

If you want, you can also add a cup of chopped nuts. I decided to add walnuts and crushed them first in a zip lock bag.

After mixing it all together, you batter will look nice and chunky, like this:

Drop half a teaspoon full of batter onto a cookie sheet.

Bake at 180 degrees for about 10 minutes or until the cookies have a nice golden brown edge. As they cool the cookies got a nice crisp to them.

And then enjoy with a tall glass of cold milk :D

Overall, I found this to be an easy recipe, especially if you're a first time baker of chocolate chip cookies. Taste-wise they are pretty moreish but I think my search for the ultimate recipe still continues.

In the meanwhile, make your own! The recipe can be found here.