Goodbye, Fatty…..

My hamster Fatty passed away a couple of weeks back. The picture above was taken when he was snoozing at his favourite spot, the exercise wheel. Fatty was given to me by Elvis as a belated birthday present. He came to our home on 1st Jan 2008. He was a very gentle hamster, and won’t venture out of his cage even when we accidentally left it open the whole day. He wasn’t called Fatty for nothing. His size and good appetite eventually earned him the name. He was definitely my mom’s favourite hamster, who will feed him several times a day with little snacks. We will always remember how he would run to the side of his cage to greet us whenever we are close by. How he will innocently dig sand and act busy when he too full to take another bite. How he will run miles on his exercise wheel and create a ruckus in the middle of the night. He is always game for any snack we give him and usually have second or third helpings. He is probably one of the fattest hamster I ever had. Despite his short life here in our home, I am sure he was happy. The other two remaining hamsters were a little moody the couple of days after he passed away. They knew…. 

The cookie recipe I have today is another winner from Smitten Kitchen. I bookmarked it a thousand years ago and wanted to try it after numerous rave reviews. I used my best Valrhona white chocolate discs. The weather was so hot when I was making this that my creaming of sugars resulted in a runny batter. My butter has melted!! I quickly froze it in the fridge for 15 minutes before continuing. My cookie spread quite a bit and turned out a little flat. Still, they were delicious. Though I would probably lessen the butter to 12 tablespoon next time for a firmer dough. Fatty would have loved it. You are sadly missed, Fatty.

Crispy Salted Oatmeal White Chocolate Cookies
Adapted from Smitten Kitchen

1 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon table salt
14 tablespoons (1 3/4 sticks) unsalted butter, slightly softened
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup light brown sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups old-fashioned rolled oats

6 ounces good-quality white chocolate bar, chopped (not “white chocolate” chips; they’re almost always artificial. I am adamant about this.)

1/2 teapoon flaky sea salt (like Maldon or fleur de sel) (for sprinkling on top)

 

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line baking sheet with parchment paper or Silpat. Whisk flour, baking powder, baking soda, and table salt in a medium bowl.

 

2. Beat butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Scrape down bowl with rubber spatula, then add egg and vanilla and beat until incorporated. Scrape down bowl again. Add flour mixture gradually and mix until just incorporated and smooth. Gradually add oats and white chocolate and mix until well incorporated.

 

3. Divide dough into 24 equal portions, each about 2 tablespoons. Roll between palms into balls, then place on lined baking sheets about 2 1/2 inches apart. Using fingertips, gently press down each ball to about ¾-inch thickness.

 

4. Sprinkle a flake or two of sea salt on each cookie

 

5. Bake until cookies are deep golden brown, about 13 to 16 minutes, rotating baking sheet halfway through. Transfer baking sheet to wire rack to cool.

 

Merry Christmas!

When I was young, danish cookies were one of my favourite. The familiar round and blue tin makes me super happy. I will sneak a few pieces out every time I go pass the kitchen. The sugar coated ones are my favourite, so they are the first to go. Next are the ones with raisins, the plain ones are saved for my brother Nowadays, it seems that nobody gives these danish cookies anymore. I have not eaten them for more than 10 years! When I saw them at Orangette, I knew I have to make them.

These cookies are awfully delicate. The dough is very soft, and a little difficult to handle in humid temperatures like mine. I may add a little more flour in future to get firmer cookies. I resort to freezing them for 10 minutes after cutting them into pig shapes, so that they can be easily transferred to baking sheets. Although they spread a little, I am glad they still managed to mantain their shape pretty well. Merry Christmas to all you readers out there. Oink Oink!   

Real Danish Butter Cookies
Adapted from Orangette

 

2 cups all-purpose flour

½ tsp. baking soda
1 cup unsalted Lurpak butter, softened

½ cup granulated sugar
1 large egg, beaten
3 to 4 Tbsp. sanding or other coarse-grain sugar, such as Turbinado

1. Set racks in the upper and lower thirds of the oven, and preheat to 175C (350F). Line 2 large    baking sheets with parchment.

2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour and baking soda.

3. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter until fluffy. Then add the sugar and beat briefly to combine. Add the flour mixture, and beat on low speed until just combined. The dough will appear crumbly, but if you squeeze a bit in your hand, it will cohere. Divide the dough in half.

4. Roll each half between large sheets of plastic wrap into a rectangle approximately 10 by 15 inches, about 1/8 inch thick. Transfer, still in plastic wrap, to a baking sheet, and refrigerate until firm, about 30 minutes. Then remove the top layer of plastic wrap and cut into desired shapes.

5. Brush the tops of the cookies very lightly with the beaten egg, and then sprinkle with sanding sugar. Bake the cookies, 2 sheets at a time, switching positions of the pans halfway through baking, until they are very pale golden, 15 – 18 minutes, depending on size. Cool on the baking sheets for 5 minutes; then carefully slide the cookies, still on the parchment, onto wire racks. Cool completely. Make more cookies with the remaining dough, baking on cooled, freshly lined baking sheets. Makes about 35 cookies.

 

 

 

Tis The Season To Be Jolly…. (Not)

Amidst the mass retrenchmentsand very gloomy market sentiments, this is probably one of the most sombre christmas season ever. Even for me, though I don’t really celebrate the holiday other than work/go party/sleep. Still I appreciate the upcoming holiday. My utilisation rate for the past few months have been unbelieveably low, meaning that I have been practically doing nothing but surfing the net 8 hours a day in office. It wasn’t really my choice as there were pitifully little jobs during off peak season. My boss asked me outright the other day what I have been doing in the office. Caught by surprised, I decided to tell her the truth. She wasn’t quite happy and told me the pple up there are looking at the matter. After that conversation, my colleague whispered to me that there is a second round of retrenchment going on. I am not very sure how to react to this news. Of course, my mind immediate comes up with questions. Is it my turn to go this time? Am I amongst the poorest performers in the firm? Perhaps. This doesn’t exactly help my already depressed state.

Althought I am not unduly worried about losing my job, I know I still need to find another job fast due to family commitments if need be. Sigh. Another update, I solved my toothache through surgery. I hope it heals fast. I don’t think I can afford another expensive operation at this point in time. I tried to think hard of something to cheer about. Can’t come up with any. I guess I can only turn to baking to put my mind off these depressing matters at this point in time. When I saw the whopping 68 favourite cookies recipes posted in Gourmet (Each recipe to represent a year of the magazine’s publication), I was overjoyed and enthusiastically bookmarked quite a few. There are alot of old favourites, and some which I have never seen before. The one the left the deepest impression is Cranberry Pistatchio Icebox Cookies. I love the photo of it in the magazine. How pretty!! I have never done a slice and bake cookie before so I had quite a bit of fun shaping the dough (yep I am into cheap thrills ) If you peeps out there live in humid and hot climates like me, do work quickly and throw the dough into the fridge every now and then to ensure it is cold. It is much easier is shape firm dough. I added slightly less butter and sugar than indicated in the recipe. Mostly because I did not want to cut open another package of butter, and the cranberries are already sweetened. This must be one of my favourite cookies ever. They are reminiscent of those danish cookies (in those blue round tins) I used to eat when I was young, except these are way better! For those who celebrate christmas, have a good one… If you can.

Pistachio Cranberry Icebox Cookies

 (Adapted from Gourmet)

3 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon cinnamon

½ tsp salt

1 ¼ cup unsalted butter, softened

½ cup

1 cup shelled pistachios

2/3  cup dried cranberries

1 large egg, lightly beaten

1/4 cup decorative sugar (preferably coarse)

 

Make dough:

1. Stir together flour, cinnamon, and salt in a bowl.

 

2. Beat together butter, granulated sugar, and zest in a large bowl with an electric mixer  at m edium-high speed until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Reduce speed to low and add flour mixture in 3 batches, mixing until dough just comes together in clumps, then mix in pistachios and cranberries. Gather and press dough together, then divide into 2 equal pieces. Using a sheet of plastic wrap or wax paper as an aid, form each piece of dough into a log about 1 1/2 inches in diameter. Square off long sides of each log to form a bar, then chill, wrapped in plastic wrap, until very firm, at least 2 hours.

 

Slice and bake cookies:

 

3. Put oven racks in upper and lower thirds of oven and preheat oven to 350°F. Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper.

 

4. Brush egg over all 4 long sides of bars (but not ends). Sprinkle decorative sugar on a separate sheet of parchment or wax paper and press bars into sugar, coating well.

 

5. Cut each bar crosswise into 1/4-inch-thick slices, rotating bar after cutting each slice to help keep square shape. (If dough gets too soft to slice, freeze bars briefly until firm.) Arrange cookies about 1/2 inch apart on lined baking sheets.

 

6. Bake cookies, switching position of sheets halfway through baking, until edges are pale golden, 15 to 18 minutes total. Transfer cookies from parchment to racks using a slotted spatula and cool completely.

 

(Dough bars can be chilled up to 3 days or frozen, wrapped in plastic wrap and then foil, 1 month (thaw frozen dough in refrigerator just until dough can be sliced). Cookies keep in an airtight container at room temperature 5 days.)