Peanut Butter Cookies

Peanut butter is the love my life! well, almost... of course my loved ones are the real loves of my life! 

but... there isn't a day without peanut butter for me. I can have it for breakfast or lunch or dinner (but rarely, with the Hub watching me so closely on my food choices).

my relationship with PB (and chocolates!): never enough of it.

PB is sooooo versatile; you can have it with jelly, jam, nutella, cream and - my favourite combination - Kaya. extremely sinful, yes, but totally comforting. And, you can have it on breads (ALL kinds, ANY bread, ANY brand. in fact, if the bread does not taste good on its own, just spread them generously with PB  and they will be most delicious..), cream crackers, scones, etc. Or, in milkshakes even... 

and, PB whether crunchy or creamy is a wonderful baking ingredient. personally, i use crunchy ones for baking and creamy ones just to eat it on its own. recently, i bought a large tin of crunchy PB just for baking and here is what I tried out. 

Peanut Butter (shortbread) cookies (adapted from Leite's Culinaria)

Ingredients:

• 1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1 cup granulated sugar, plus more for sprinkling
• 1/4 cup packed light brown sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 large egg
• 1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons chunky peanut butter 

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 176°C. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.
2. Sift together the flour, baking soda, and salt in a bowl.
3. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment on high speed, beat together the butter, granulated and brown sugars, and vanilla until light and fluffy, something like 4 to 5 minutes. Add the egg and beat until incorporated. Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula. Add the peanut butter and mix until everything is smooth and uniform. Add the flour mixture and mix just until combined. Remove the bowl from the mixer, scrape down the sides of the bowl, and mix again a few times by hand.
4. To make small cookies, roll scant teaspoon-sized portions of dough into 3/4-inch balls. To make larger cookies, roll 1 1/2-tablespoon portions of dough into balls. Place the dough balls 2 inches apart on the prepared baking sheets. Flatten the cookies slightly and imprint the cookie dough with any design you like. Sprinkle with granulated sugar. Bake in batches until lightly browned, about 10 minutes. Transfer the cookies to a wire rack to cool completely. Store in airtight containers for up to 2 days

Chinese New Year Cornflake Cookies

i am a BIG fan of cornflake cookies and one of the best i had was bought from a noodle stall in an old wet market in Macpherson. the wet market is already demolished. i wonder how many of my peers visit wet market these days but typically they have a hawker section and the market section. hawker section sells cooked food and many elders would hang around in the early morning, chatting over a cup of Kopi. sometimes, during lunar new year, domestic bakers will distribute their goodies with the stalls for sale.

last year, i tried three cornflake cookies recipes and finally found the one i like - it is crunchy and "su" at the same time. "su" is a chinese word and i am not sure how to describe it here. it feels like the cookie breaks apart easily.. i love this recipe and here are the cookies again for the lunar new year..

Cornflake Cookies


Ingredient A
200 g --------------------- plan flour
1 tsp ---------------------- milk powder
1 tsp ---------------------- baking powder
150 g --------------------- cornflakes (i crushed it)


Ingredient B
200 g --------------------- butter
150 g --------------------- sugar
2 egg yolks


small paper cups


Method
1. mix ingredient A
2. cream sugar and butter until light and fluffy
3. add in the egg yolks and mix well
4. add in ingredient B unit well mixed


5. spoon batter into paper cups and bake for 20-25 min or until golden brown
6, bake in pre-heated oven @ 150degC

New York Times Chocolate Chip Cookies

for subway cookies lovers, this gotta be THE recipe for you.. these cookies are soft and chewy and slightly bigger than subway's. personally, i prefer crispy cookies so i baked two batches of it - one batch soft & chewy and the other crispy and crunchy.

New York times Chocolate Chip Cookies (from the NYT of course!)


Ingredients:


2 cups minus 2 tablespoons (8 1/2 ounces) cake flour
1 2/3 cups (8 1/2 ounces) bread flour
1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons coarse salt
2 1/2 sticks (1 1/4 cups) unsalted butter
1 1/4 cups (10 ounces) light brown sugar
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons (8 ounces) granulated sugar
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 1/4 pounds bittersweet disks or fèves, at least 60 percent cacao content  (see note below)
*Sea salt - i used the normal cooking salt. my recommendation is either use real sea salt or nothing at all


Method:

1. Sift flours, baking soda, baking powder and salt into a bowl. Set aside.

2. Cream butter and sugars together until very light, about 5 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Stir in the vanilla. Reduce speed to low, add dry ingredients and mix until just combined, 5 to 10 seconds. Drop chocolate pieces in and incorporate them without breaking them. Press plastic wrap against dough and refrigerate for 24 to 36 hours. Dough may be used in batches, and can be refrigerated for up to 72 hours. - i froze my cookie dough for 24 hours instead; after mixing, i divided my cookie dough into balls (the way i would bake them), placed them on a greaseproof baking sheet and let them harden (uncovered) in the freezer before transferring them into a zip-lock bag for further storage. 

3. When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a nonstick baking mat. Set aside.

4. Arrange the cookie dough balls on the baking mat, space them about 4 cm from each other. Sprinkle lightly with sea salt and bake until golden brown but still soft, 20-25 minutes (30 min for a crispier cookie). Transfer sheet to a wire rack for 10 minutes, then slip cookies onto another rack to cool a bit more. Repeat with remaining dough.

Christmas Cookies & Cards

the cookies here are the same sugar cookies in the earlier post. simple change the cookie cutters!

enjoy the photos!

christmas tree cookies.....

with guardian angels and christmas bells...

DIY packaging...

and finally DIY cards..

Teddy Bears for Jayden

for my girlfriend's baby bash for baby Jayden. splitting image of his papa.....

Teddy Bear Sugar Cookies (adapted from bisous a too)

Ingredients:


300g ------------------ unsalted butter
100g ------------------ caster sugar
4 egg yolks
500g ------------------ flour
1 tbsp ----------------- corn flour
1 tsp ------------------ vanilla


Method:


1. preheat oven to 160degC
2. whisk butter and sugar until soft - don't over mix
3. add in the egg yolks and vanilla essence and mix
4. add in sift flour and corn flour
5. roll it out on a well-floured surface
6. use your favorite cookie cutter and cut out cookies
7. bake in preheated over for about 1/2 hr

the recipe called for icing decorations on the cookies but i did not. on their own, the sugar cookies are not that sweet. mickey mouse cookie cutter was used to maximise usage of the cookie dough..

Who stole the cookies from the cookie jar?

I attended four meetings today, but thankfully, all were short and fruitful. Shouldn’t all meetings be like that? Yes, but often not. Sometimes the discussions get nowhere.... and whenever that happens, vague images of recipes and dessert images would flash across my mind and that is when I decide on what to bake in the evening.

But today. I had already decided what I wanted bake the moment I woke up. I was craving for cookies. I think that was subconscious because my peripheral vision had caught my brother munching on MY Famous Amos cookies the night before while I watching television. He stole my cookies!!! But more importantly..... I soon realised he is not the only cookie thief in my home! The ultimate cookie thief shall be revealed by the end of this post.

Had used this recipe for three times over the past two years. I think each bake yielded different results. I don't really know why. I suspect it is my weighing scale. I should really get a digital one to make more accurate measurements.

ChocoChip Crunchy Nut Biscuits

Ingredients A

• 165g plain flour
• 1tsp baking powder, salt

Ingredients B

• 75g unsalted butter (I used salted and omitted the salt)
• 80g castor sugar
• 50g brown sugar

Ingredients C

• 1 egg
• 1tsp vanilla flavor (extract) (I used the normal vanilla essence)

Ingredient D

• 115g plain chocochips (I used Hershey's semisweet)
• 50g chopped hazelnut (I used almond, since I have already have it at home)

Method

1. Grease 2 or 3 baking sheets and set aside for further usage.
2. Use an electric mixer to beat ingredient B until light and fluffy. Then add in ingredient C and mix well. Pour in sifted ingredient A and beat well on low speed until thoroughly combined.
3. Stir in ingredient D and 2/3 chopped hazelnut. Drop teaspoonful of the mixture onto to the prepared sheets. Space the batter about 5cm to allow room for spreading (I missed this this time! and my cookies almost became a GIANT 'tray' cookie!)
4. Flatten each biscuits with a wet fork. Sprinkle the remaining hazelnuts on top of the biscuits and press lightly into the surface of the dough.
5. Preheat the oven to 180degC, then bake the biscuits for 10-12 mins, or until they are golden brown
6. Leave the biscuits on the baking sheets to cool for a min or so, until they are firm and then transfer them to a wire rack and leave to cool completely.

And the 'metro' cookies (metro another name for subway :p)

 

Now... revealing the cookie thief...