Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow…

I wish it snows here. I wish I can experience 4 seasons here. In fact, I have never seen snow in my life. So you peeps out there who wakes up with snow in your backyard… Be grateful. Though I can brag that I can get a nice tan any time of the year  I am happy to say that my icebox cookies received pretty rave reviews from mom’s friend. She commissioned me to make another bottle for her. With Christmas just round the corner, I decided to make more cookies for my relatives as gifts. Although we don’t celebrate christmas, no one will resist homemade cookies ya?

The pecan shortbread cookies were delicious. I added a heaped 1/2 cup worth of ground pecan so they really shine through in the shortbread. Word of caution, the dough is really soft and spread quite abit in the oven, so do chill the dough thoroughly. I blame it on the stifling hot and humid weather here in Singapore I omitted the cloves and thought they taste just fine without them. The honey refrigerator cookie recipe is from Gourmet, one of the 68 cookie recipes feature this christmas. This is the first time I am working with shortening and find it a little strange. Firstly, it has no smell. Though the texture is similar to that of margarine and butter. The (white) color of the shortening is a little disconcerting to me as well. Nevertheless, the recipe turned out pretty good too. I may replace the shortening with butter next time to see if it works as well. The nut I used was chopped almonds. Which brings me to the matter that I am in love with my new food processor. It is such a dream to use. Definitely beats chopping those nuts up by hand. I won’t be adding the recipe for the honey cookies, but you can find it here.

Brown Sugar Pecan Shortbread

(Adapted from Dorie Greenspan’s  ‘Baking From My Home To Yours’)

1½ cups plain flour

½ cup or cornflour

¼ teaspoon salt

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter,room temperature

2/3 cup light brown sugar

½ heaped cup finely ground pecans

1. Sift together the flour, rice flour, salt and cloves.

2. Beat the butter and sugr using a hand-held mixer or freestanding mixer on medium speed for around 3 minutes or  until very smooth. Reduce the speed to low and add dry ingredients, mixing until just combined. Add the pecans and give the mixer a couple of turns, just to mix the nuts through.

3. In between two large pieces of non-stick baking paper, roll the dough out to an approximately 24 x 28cm rectangle that’s 1.5cm thick. Place the dough in the fridge for at least 3 hours or up to 2 days.

4. Line two baking trays with non-stick baking paper. Using a ruler and a sharp knife, cut the dough into 4cm squares. Transfer the squares to the prepared baking trays and prick each square twice with the tines of a fork. Sprinkle some raw sugar over each dough square. Place these two trays in the freezer for 15 minutes to chill. Preheat the oven to 175°C. Position the oven racks to divide the oven into thirds.

5. Bake the biscuits for 15 to 18 minutes, rotating the sheets from top to bottom and front to back at the midway point.

When life give you almonds…

…….Make biscotti. Especially these beauties. I have a bag of almonds sitting around for the longest time. A mistake buy by my papa. He thought it would be nice to have some almonds around so that he could nibble on them when he was feeling peckish. Well, he thought wrong. He probably ate no more than a handful and left the rest untouched. Then again, I should not comment too much on his behavior since I am pretty much the same too. Perhaps bad habits run in the family too.

Mom commissioned me to use up those almonds before they grow stale. I threw in some chopped apricots as well as mom loves them. They went pretty well with the almonds. I also reduced the amount of sugar to 3/4 cup. With the addition of dried fruits, the biscotti were sweet enough. I flipped through Dorie’s Baking: From my home to yours and decided to make Lenox Almond Biscotti. The dough gave me quite abit of problem as it was really moist and a little difficult to shape. After adding an extra handful of flour and chilling it in the fridge for 15 minutes, it was much easier. Still, I got some misshappened logs that did not look quite promising. I was slightly miffed as I saw some really pretty biscotti done by TWDers. After baking it twice, they turned out looking much better than I expect. I loved mine really crunchy, so I baked it slightly longer the second time round. I think that this is a really adaptable recipe, you can add other types of nuts, fruit or even chocolate. Don’t worry if your dough spread quite abit while baking the first time. They will turn out just fine!

Lenox Almond Biscotti

(Adapted from Dorie Greenspan’s Baking: From my house to yours)   

 

1 1/2 cups of flour
1 1/2 tsp of baking powder
1/4 tsp of salt
1/2 cup of yellow cornmeal (I used white cornmeal)
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 cup of sugar (I used vanilla sugar)
2 large eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons of pure almond extract (I omitted that)

1/4 cup chopped apricots
1/2 cup of sliced almonds (I use chopped)

 

1. Preheat the oven to 175C. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

2. Whisk the flour, baking powder, salt and cornmeal together.

3. Beat the butter and sugar together at medium speed for 3 minutes, until very smooth. Add the eggs and continue to beat, scraping down the bowl as needed, for another 2 minutes, or until the mixture is light, smooth and creamy. Beat in the almond extract if you are adding. Reduce the mixer speed to low and add the dry ingredients, mixing only until they are incorporated. You’ll have a soft, stick-to-your-fingers dough that will ball up around the paddle or beaters. Scrape down the paddle and bowl, toss in the almonds and apricots and mix just to blend.

4. Scrape half the dough onto one side of the baking sheet. Using your fingers and a rubber spatula or scraper, work the dough into a log about 12 inches long and 1 1/2 inches wide. The log will be more rectangular than domed, and bumpy, rough and uneven. Form a second log with the remaining dough on the other side of the baking sheet.

5. Bake for 15 minutes, or until the logs are lightly golden but still soft and springy to the touch. Transfer the baking sheet to a rack and cool the logs on the baking sheet for 30 minutes.

6. Using a wide metal spatula, transfer the logs to a cutting board and, with a long serrated knife, trim the ends and cut the logs into 3/4-inch-thick slices. Return the slices to the baking sheet, setting them again on the same sides as before and slide the sheet back into the oven.

7. Bake the biscotti at 175C for another 20 minutes, or until they are golden and firm. Transfer them to racks and cool to room temperature.

Dreaming a little dream of you

Every now and then, I get a burst of genius ideas. Okay, not ALL ideas are clever I was attending a course today when it suddenly hit me that a chopped almond, blueberry and chocolate chip cookie would seem like a brilliant idea. This could have be the unconscious part of my brain attempting to pass time in a boring lecture. Not to mention, it kept me happily occupied for pretty much the whole afternoon.

Soon, I was in my own little cookie dream. Chopped almonds or macadamia? I am in the mood for some almonds. Will white chocolate work as well? Possibly, but I have some Ghirardelli bittersweet chocolate chips in my fridge right now. How about a little oats to go along? Hmm… Could complicate the whole thing. I was happily doodling the amounts and proportions on my lecture notes. Nobody could disturb me and my cookie dream! Absolutely nobody!

Until my lecturer asked me to explain something to the class. Oops. Like a drunkard just awakened from her stupor, I looked up at him. Thank god I knew the answer, or else, that could have been the end of me. >____< Anyway, I modelled this cookie very closely to the famous NY Times Chocolate Chip cookie, but added slightly less butter because I wanted a firmer dough. I also lessened the salt as my point was not to marry sweet and salty. Lastly, I used less sugar so as not to overpower the natural sweetness of the blueberries. I left my dough in the fridge for a little over a day. I reckon this recipe is pretty flexible, you can add any nut, chocolate and fruit combination as you like. I love mine this way (for now). What is your favourite combination?

Chopped Almond, Blueberry & Chocolate Chip Cookie

2 cups minus 2 tbsp cake flour                            

1 2/3 cups bread flour

1 1/4 tsp baking soda                                      

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt                                               

2 sticks (1 cup) + 1tbsp butter

1 cup brown sugar                          

3/4 cup white granulated sugar

2 large eggs  (room temperature)         

2 tsp vanilla extract

7oz bittersweet chocolate chips                        

110g chopped almonds (toasted)

100g dried blueberries

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

2. Cream butter and sugars together until very light, about 5 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well. Stir in vanilla extract. Add the dry ingredients until just combined. Mix in the chocolate chips, blueberries and chopped almond.       

3. Press plastic wrap against dough and refrigerate for 24 to 36 hours. (Of course, you can always omit this step and bake them straight away.)

4. Preheat oven to 175C. Scoop dough into balls (about 1 1/4 inch in diameter) onto a baking sheet or greased tray. Bake for about 18 – 22 minutes. Eat warm, or cool, with a cup of milk. What else? Makes about 40 cookies.