Tuesday 15 September 2015

Almond Slices


Two words to describe the perfect Almond Slices; Crunchy & Nutty. Baked at the right temperature for the right amount time. My fourth times of baking this biscuit. I have to admit that it will be quite costly to bake this biscuit in Malaysia. Because of the almonds flakes. Here, 200 grams of almond flakes would cost me Euro 1.99, the most expensive, yet important, ingredient for this biscuit.
However, satisfying the crave for its bitterness, crunchy nutty biscuit comes first. I loves nuts and that explains the 'nutty'. I used Bournville cocoa powder, hence explained the bitterness.

Ingredients:

260 g butter
185 g icing sugar
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon of coffee paste
400 g plain flour (to be sifted)
1 tablespoon milk powder (to be sifted)
1/2 teaspoon baking powder (to be sifted)
15 g cocoa powder (to be sifted)
180 g almond flakes

Methods:

1. Cream the butter and icing sugar until the mixture becomes white and fluffy.
2. Add egg and coffee paste. Whisk again.
3. Add flour, milk powder, baking powder and cocoa powder into the mixture gradually. Mix well.
4. Divide the dough to 8 parts. Roll each small part of dough until it becomes like a cylinder with approximately 3 cm in diameter. Put all rolled dough on a baking tray (lined with baking paper) and then store them in the freezer for 1-2 hours.
5. After 1-2 hours, take out the dough and slice them thin. Arrange the sliced dough on baking tray. Bake at 175 degree Celsius for 20-25 minutes.

Monday 7 September 2015

Red Velvet Cookies

Sashibouri desune..

Here I am..craving for cookies. I tried to bake this cookie last year but it was only half success (which also meant HALF-FAILURE). But to my surprise, my aunts and uncle liked them a lot. I decided to try it again today. It turned out nicely this time. Personally, I do think this cookie is too sweet. So, if you are not a sweet-tooth type of person, try to reduce the sugar to 3/4 cup.


Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups of plain flour
2 tablespoons cocoa powder
1 teaspoon corn flour
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 cup butter
1 cup castor sugar
1 teaspoon vinegar
1 egg Grade A
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 1/2 teaspoons red colouring
3/4 cup white chocolate chip

Methods:


1.       Sift all plain flour, corn flour, cocoa powder and baking powder.
2.       Cream the butter and castor sugar until the mixture becomes white and fluffy using medium speed whisk.
3.       Add egg, vanilla extract and red colouring. Mix well.
4.       Add the sifted ingredients and half of chocolate chips. Mix again using spatula.
5.       Refrigerate the dough in the fridge for 15-30 minutes.
6.    Use an ice cream scoop to scoop the cookie dough and arrange it on the baking tray (line the tray with baking paper first or grease it using butter). 
7.       Bake the cookies at 160°C for 15-20 minutes or until the surface of the cookie is no longer stick to your finger when you touch it. 
8.    The cookies will be soft once you take them out from the oven but they will become harden as they are allowed to cool. Keep the cookies in airtight container.