Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies
Ho ho ho! With Christmas around the corner, it is time for me to get my hands messy and bake up trays of Christmas goodies for my beloved friends.
Last year I made butter cookies, this year it shall be peanut butter cookies with a healthy dose of chocolate.
PEANUT BUTTER CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES
Portion: Makes about eighty cookies with 4cm width.
Time: 20 minutes to prepare. 40 minutes to bake all the cookies.
Cookies:
- 110 g (1/2 cup) shortening. OR 113 g (1/2 cup) unsalted butter
- 185 g (3/4 cup) peanut butter creamy or chunky
- 65 g (1/3 cup) fine sugar
- 45 g (1/3 cup) brown sugar
- 1 egg
- 2 tbsp fresh milk
- 1 tsp vanilla extract or essence
- 240 g (1 & 1/2 cup) plain flour (you can use more depending on how watery the dough turns out to be
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 170 g (1 cup) hersheys kisses
Directions:
Preparation:
1) Heat the oven to 190 degrees Celsius (375 F).
2) Beat shortening and peanut butter until well blended.
3) Add sugar and brown sugar; beat till fluffy. You should obtain a mixture like this:
4) Add egg, milk and vanilla; beat well.
5) Add flour, baking soda, salt.You should get a dough that is soft to touch but not watery.
6) Shape dough into 1 inch balls.
7) As you shape the dough, roll in mini chocolate kisses.
Flatten it. You should obtain trays of these:
9) Bake the cookies for about 15- 20 minutes, or till it is light brown.
Enjoy!
ILF: Hotcakes
I made hotcake duckies for breakfast this morning. It turned out to be really fantastic.
This is my second attempt at making hotcakes, and I found that it tastes really really good with these precise measurements. You may make minor adjustments as you deem fit.
Portion: Makes about eight 15cm in diameter hotcakes.
Time: 15 minutes to prepare and make the batter. 20 minutes to cook all the hotcakes.
Hotcakes:
- 154 g self raising flour
- 2 tbs fine sugar
- 1 egg beaten lightly
- 185ml of fresh milk (I use Meji. For a lighter tasting hotcakes, use lighter tasting milk.)
- Butter for cooking
- Maple syrup
Directions:
Prepare the batter:
1) Place the flour and sugar in the beater.
2) Place the beater on slow speed. Beat in the milk. Beat in the egg. Obtain a smooth batter.
Cook the hotcakes!
1) Warm the pan. Add some butter. The butter helps to brown the hotcakes.
2) Scoop and pour batter into the pan.
3) Wait for bubbles to appear before flipping it around to cook second side.
4) Remove when both sides are slightly brown.
5) Add maple syrup.
The finished product. Nicely browned hotcakes!
Use different cookie-cutters or egg-shapers to make it a fun-filled breakfast for the little ones.
Top it up with hashbrowns to make it a super-duper great breakfast. Enjoy!
Butter Cookies
Cookies! I stuck my head in the kitchen, poured flour and made the kitchen really messy. The end results, butter cookies for the sweet toothed.
150 g butter.
1/4 tsp vanilla essence
100 g castor sugar
1 egg yolk separated
2 tbsp milk
260g plain flour.
Set the oven to 130 - 140 Celcius.
1) Place butter, vanilla essence and sugar together. Beat it at medium speed, till light and fluffy.
2) Beat in the egg yolk and milk.
3) Stir in the flour.
If the mixture seemed too yellow and soggy, place more flour. Kneed it into a dough. The dough must be slightly firm and must not “melt” as you roll the dough. Cut into shapes.
Bake for 15-20 min depending on your oven.
ILF: Butter Cookies
It is tuesday again! So roll up your sleeves, let us do some baking! Today, I’ll be sharing another of my baking item - butter cookies.
- 225 g salted butter (room temperature)
- 125 g castor sugar
- 280 g self raising flour
- 85 g corn flour
- 1/2 teaspoon almond essence or vanilla essence (I used vanilla essence)
- For toppings (optional): silver almonds or maraschino cherry or glazed cherry
Directions:
- Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C.
- To make the cookie dough:
- Cream the butter and sugar using a spatula in a mixing bowl - a) cut the butter into huge chunks, b) mix in the sugar. (ensure that through the process, the butter remains soft and does not turn into liquid).
- Prepare the flour mix - a) mix the self raising flour and corn flour together. b) sieve the mixture.*
- Mix the flour mix with the butter-sugar mix using the spatula.
- Using your hands, knead the mixture into a dough. (Do not knead for too long as the dough might become too soft) [To prevent this from happening, I usually place the dough in the fridge for about 20 minutes before making the cookies]
- Make the cookie balls: 1) Using a spoon, scoop the dough. 2) Place the scooped dough into your palms. 3) Roll the cookie dough into a ball. 4) Using a fork, gently press the centre of the cookie dough to produce a flat cookie dough. 5) Place the almond or cherry on top of the cookie dough.
- Place the cookie on a tray and bake for about 15 - 22 minute.
- The final product should appear whitish or off white and not brown.
- Cool and serve.
ILF: Cheesecake
When I was in Canada, I love tuesdays. Tuesdays were toony tuesday in which I can get 2 pieces of chicken plus a small packet of fries for $2 (excluding gst). It was a real deal because it meant that I could break away from the routine dorm food which was often over salted and deep fried.
From now on, every tuesdays will be in memory of the food days I had. It’s going to be I Love Food day! I love to cook food. It is thereapeutic and I feel a great sense of achievement after I conquer the kitchen to make myself a decent meal.
One thing I got out from my days in Canada, is my love for cheesecake and my love in baking them. Surprisingly, cheesecake is really easy to make.
Here is Valerie’s version of the cheesecake:
Portion: Fills 2 rounded pans of 40 diameters. Time taken approximately an hour dependent on your oven.
Crust:
- 6 - 8 pieces of digestive biscuits crushed per tray (or 1 cup of graham cracker crumbs)
- 55 grams unsalted butter, melted
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- A dash of salt (optional)
Filling:
- 2 blocks of Philadelphia cream cheese, room temperature
- 150 grams castar sugar
- 230 grams sour cream (200 grams would suffice as well)
- 5 large eggs
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 120 grams heavy cream
Directions:
- Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C.
- For the crust, mix the biscuit crumbs concurrently with 1) the melted butter and 2) the sugar till you obtain an even moisture mixture. For taste, add a dash of salt. Though do this only after you have poured all the sugar into the butter mixture. Press the mixture evenly on the pan. Bake the crust for about 15 minutes. The crust should be golden brown. Ensure that the baked crust is hard and not soggy. Cool the pan.
- Lower the temperature of the oven to 162 degrees C.
- For the filling, 1) cream the cream cheese at medium speed using a hand held mixer or standing mixer. The product should be smooth and would appear moderately heavy. 2) Gradually add the sugar into the smooth cream cheese. At medium speed, beat the sugar till light and fluffy. 3) Beat in the sour cream. 4) Add the eggs. Beat the mixture every time you add an egg. 5) Stir in the vanilla and heavy cream. The final product should be slightly thinner and fluffier than in step 1. It should appear white-yellow.
- Pour the batter into the pan. Bake the cheesecake for about 45 minutes. The top should be lightly browned and upon probbing the cake should jiggle slightly. Though if you stick a stick into the cake, the stick should be relatively free of any cake mix. Do not bake the cake till it is totally hardened. Cool the cake. Place a plastic wrap over the pan and refrigerate it overnight.
- Serve with fruits or as it is. Enjoy!