Cashew cookie with chocolate Nutella ganache (Kuih Raya)

I am bad... for neglecting my blog again.. :( I've been so busy the past couple of months. A trip back to Sunny City for a month. Then when I came back home, I had to start packing and cleaning the apartment cos we were moving out. At the new place, lots of unpacking, organizing, laundry and etc.. (even now still got a lot of things to do.) We out of the cyber world for a while and when we got the service back, the Internet connection was always giving me problems. :/ I got it fixed now but for the wifi, still going crazy on me. Well, good thing still got another alternative to connect to cyber world. :)

Anyhoo, I made this cookie for Eid this year. I meant to post it after Eid but I just didn't had the time.  I'm not sure what is the actual name of this cookie so I just called it cashew cookie with chocolate nutella ganache. This recipe you need to use the aluminum candy cups instead of the paper cups. I brought back some when I was in Singapore as it was much easier to get it there. The recipe is from my girl friend in Singapore. For the cookie mix, I used my home made cookie recipe. I used recipe from Crisco's website =)

Cashew cookie with Chocolate Nutella Ganache

Ingredients:
500 gm cookie mix
40g gm cashew, blend very fine
250 gm butter, soften
Chocolate ganache 

Method:
In a mixing bowl, stir butter and a little cashew. Add cookie mix, bit by bit.
Add the balance of cashew and mix well. Make little round balls and place in the aluminum candy cups . Press slowly into the cup - 1/2 of the cup only as the other half for chocolate.

Bake at a preheated oven 350°F for 10-15 mins or until brown. (Bake all the cookies first before adding the chocolate.)

Prepare the chocolate ganache. Then using a pastry bag or just scoop with teaspoon and fill to the top of aluminum candy cups. Let the chocolate harden before store them in a air-tight container. 

Chocolate Peanut Butter Cup Cookies

Hubby likes cookies and he likes peanut butter (I like them too. hehe..).. Put two into one... tah..dah... Chocolate Peanut Butter Cup Cookies... Hubby loves them and he said these cookies are great. I saw this recipe last Christmas but I was not able to make them. 

I'm glad that I finally made them. I was a little disappointed because my cookies cracked when I pressed the chocolate PB cup into the cookies. :( But no matter, overall,  they definitely taste good. This is a great recipe and I will make these again and again... :))

Ingredients:

1 3/4 cup all purpose flour

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 cup butter, softened

1/2 cup peanut butter

1/2 cup white granulated sugar

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

1 egg, beaten

1 tsp vanilla essence

2 tbsp milk

40 miniature chocolate covered peanut butter cups, unwrapped (freeze or put in the fridge before use)

Preheat oven at 375 degrees F. In a medium bowl, sift together flour, salt and baking powder. Set aside. In a large bowl, cream butter, peanut butter, white sugar and brown sugar until fluffy. Beat in egg, vanilla essence and milk. Add flour mixture; mix well. Shape into 40 balls and place each into an ungreased mini muffin pan.

Bake for about 8 minutes. Remove from oven and immediately press each miniature chocolate covered peanut butter cups into each ball. Decorate quickly if desire. Cool carefully before removing from the pan.

Source: Allrecipes

Latest Updates: I was invited to this sweet treat linky party.. It's awesome and the pictures simply making you drooling for the sweet treats...  Must check this out Sweet As Sugar Cookie .
Thanks Lisa. :))

Honey Cornflakes Mini Cups ~ Eid-ul Adha

This year raya haji was confusing for me. I thought Eid-ul Adha is on 17th but after chatting with my friend, she said its the 16th here. I have plans to cook some raya dishes but since its a last minute, I whipped up a simple dish yesterday. At first, I thought I would cook the raya food today but after much considerations... hehe.. we are going to have a little different from having the tradition raya food. Will post it soon on that.

This morning, I'm sharing the super easiest Eid cookies that I baked last minute. They are crunchy, yummy and uses little ingredients. Honey Cornflakes mini cups.. You can add raisins, toasted groundnuts, toasted almond slices or just have it plain cornflakes. You can even get your little kids to help out and have fun. Definitely both the kids and the adults will enjoy these Eid cookies. :))

Ingredients:

50g butter

1 tbsp honey

2 tbsp brown sugar

3 cups cornflakes

1/2 cup raisins

Preheat oven at 325 Degrees Fahrenheit. 

In a small saucepan, melt butter, honey and brown sugar over low heat. 

Keep stirring until the sugar dissolved. 

Turn off heat and mix cornflakes and raisins. Mix well.

Fill the mixture into the mini cups. Sprinkles some nonpareils decors on top. (I also sprinkles a little of the fine crushed chocolate sandwich cookies and red sugar decors, they look just fine after baking.)

Bake for 5-10 minutes.

Cool completely before storing in an air tight container.

Happy Eid-ul Adha to each and everyone celebrating. :)

Vanishing Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

When eating quick oats, I like to mix with condensed milk and add hot water. Hubby prefers a different style, which I do not prefer at all.. So whenever, we want to eat oatmeal, we would make our own oatmeal porridge. :)

In the Quaker Oats container, there is a cookie recipe so I decided to give it a try. Hmm... These oatmeal raisin cookies are delicious....

Vanishing Oatmeal Raisin Cookies by Quaker

Makes about 4 dozen

Ingredients:

2 sticks butter, softened

1 cup firmly packed brown sugar

1/2 cup granulated sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp salt (optional)

3 cups Quaker Oats (quick or old-fashioned, uncooked) 

1 cup raisins

1. Heat oven to 350 F. 
2. Beat together butter and sugars until creamy.
3. Add eggs and vanilla; beat well.
4. Add combined flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt; mix well.
5. Stir in oats and raisin; mix well.
6. Drop by rounded tablespoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheet.
7. Bake 10 to 12 minutes or until golden brown.
8. Cool 1 minute on cookie sheet; remove to wire rack.

Bar Cookies: Bake 30 to 35 minutes in ungreased 13 x 9-inch metal baking pan.

Good night, everyone! Sweet dreams........ :)

S&SB: White Chocolate and Orange Cookies

Sweet and Simple Bakes has chosen white chocolate & orange cookies. The light, orangey and chocolate flavor is so delicious. I cannot help eating them the minute I cooled the cookies of the cooling rack! Thumbs up for the cookies... I am sure to make them again...

White Chocolate & Orange Cookies

Makes 2 dozen

Ingredients

115g unsalted butter, softened

200g caster sugar (superfine)

1 egg

Grated zest of 1 orange (2 to 3 tsp)

1 tsp vanilla extract

200g plain flour

½ tsp bicarbonate of soda

¼ baking powder

¼ tsp salt

225g white chocolate chips (milk or dark chocolate)

Preheat the oven to 190oC/170oC fan oven/375oF/Gas mark 5.

Beat the butter and sugar. Add the egg, orange zest and vanilla extract.Sift together the dry ingredients.

Stir the dry ingredients and chocolate chips into the butter mixture and combine.

Roll into balls. Use your fingers to flatten onto a non-stick baking sheet 5cm/2in apart. Bake for 8-10 minutes. Cool for five minutes and transfer to a cooling rack.

When cool, store in an airtight container for up to four to five days.

Another surprise..... Sweet giveaways......

I won something again from Dessert Magazine... It was truly indeed a surprise.. YAY!!!

The Modern Baker: Time-Saving Techniques for Breads,Tarts, Pies, Cakes and Cookies by Nick Malgieri. Nick Malgieri has the magic touch when it comes to baking. This celebrated pastry chef is a teacher’s teacher who knows how to make novice and expert bakers alike cheer at the delicious results of their efforts.

Thanks Dessert Magazine for picking me... :)

Cookie Carnival (December) - Cookie Decorating Contest!!

When I saw the email from Kate, I was so excited. It's something different and FUN!!! It's a cookie decorating contest. YAY!! As usual, in the email, she will provide us with the recipes. This time, she gave us two recipes to make the holiday cut-out cookies. There is 2 categories to win in this contest. 1st is MOST BEAUTIFUL COOKIE and 2nd is SILLIEST COOKIE. She and a couple of other judges will pick a winner and 2 runners up. The prize would be a Cookie Carnival Queen (or king!) button to put on her/his blog and the runners up will get honorable mentions and maybe a couple silly prizes. :)

I used the vanilla roll-out cookies recipe and divide it into 2 portions. The 2nd portion I added some cocoa powder. I know, I should have used the chocolate roll-out cookies recipe but I was really tired when I made the dough. I bought some ready-made icing and gel from the supermarkets. I love using the gel. I should have bought more colors for the gel. I am not so creative so when I was decorating the cookies, I kept thinking what next to do... These are the best I can do.. hehe.. Anyway, it would be nice if I win a prize but if not, its all good. Its all about FUN. I had fun making and decorating the cookies.

CHOCOLATE ROLL-OUT COOKIES - Dorie Greenspan
Yield: Makes about 60 small or 20 large cookies

Ingredients
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon (optional)
3 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, room temperature
1 1/3 cups sugar
1 large egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Sprinkles or other sugar decorations (optional)
Royal Icing (optional)

Preparation
Sift first 5 ingredients and cinnamon, if desired, into medium bowl. Stir chocolate in metal bowl set over saucepan of simmering water until melted and smooth. Set aside. Using electric mixer, beat butter in large bowl at medium speed until smooth and creamy, about 2 minutes. Add sugar and beat until mixture is pale and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add egg; beat until well blended, about 1 minute. Reduce speed to low and beat in vanilla and chocolate. Add flour mixture and beat on low speed just to blend. Gather dough into ball; divide in half. Form each half into ball and flatten into disk. Wrap disks separately in plastic and chill until firm, at least 4 hours. DO AHEAD: Can be made 2 days ahead. Keep chilled. Let stand at room temperature 30 minutes before rolling out.

Position rack in center of oven; preheat to 350°F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.
Working with 1 disk at a time, roll out dough between 2 sheets of waxed paper to 1/8-inch thickness for smaller (2-inch) cookies and 1/4-inch thickness for larger (3- to 4-inch) cookies. Using waxed paper prevents you from adding too much flour, which will make the cookies tough.
Using decorative cookie cutters, cut out cookies. Cold dough is much easier to work with. If it gets warm as you're cutting out the cookies, place the dough—waxed paper and all—in the freezer for about 5 minutes.

Use an offset spatula to peel away the excess dough and transfer the cookies to parchment-lined baking sheets, spacing 1 inch apart. Gather scraps, roll out dough, and cut more cookies, repeating until all dough is used. If not icing cookies, decorate with sprinkles or other sugar toppings, if desired.

Bake 1 sheet at a time until cookies are firm on top and slightly darker around edges, about 9 minutes for smaller cookies and up to 12 minutes for larger cookies. Line baking sheets with fresh parchment as needed. Cool completely on rack. Decorate cookies with royal icing if desired. DO AHEAD: Cookies can be made 4 days ahead. Store between sheets of waxed paper in airtight containers.

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VANILLA ROLL-OUT COOKIES - Dorie Greenspan
Yield: Makes about 40 small or 15 large cookies

For a lemony twist, reduce the vanilla extract to 3/4 teaspoon and add 1 1/4 teaspoons finely grated lemon peel.

Ingredients
10 tablespoons (1 1/4 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 large egg
1 1/4 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups all purpose flour€
Sprinkles or other sugar decorations (optional)
Royal Icing (optional)

Preparation
Using electric mixer, beat butter in large bowl at medium speed until smooth and creamy, about 2 minutes. Add sugar and salt and beat until pale and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add egg; beat until well blended, about 1 minute. Reduce speed to low and beat in vanilla. Add flour and beat on low speed just to blend. Gather dough into ball; divide in half. Form each half into ball and flatten into disk. Wrap disks separately in plastic and chill until firm, at least 4 hours. DO AHEAD: Can be made 2 days ahead. Keep chilled.

Position rack in center of oven; preheat to 350°F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Working with 1 disk at a time, roll out dough between 2 sheets of waxed paper to 1/8-inch thickness for smaller (2-inch) cookies and 1/4-inch thickness for larger (3- to 4-inch) cookies. Using decorative cookie cutters, cut out cookies and transfer to prepared sheets, spacing 1 inch apart. If cookies become too soft to transfer to baking sheets, place in freezer on waxed paper for 5 minutes before continuing. Gather scraps, roll out dough, and cut more cookies, repeating until all dough is used. If not icing cookies, decorate with sprinkles or other sugar toppings, if desired.

Bake 1 sheet at a time until cookies are firm on top and golden around edges, about 10 minutes for smaller cookies and up to 14 minutes for larger cookies. Cool completely on rack. Decorate with Royal Icing, then sprinkles or other sugar toppings, if desired. Let stand until icing sets. DO AHEAD: Can be made 4 days ahead. Store between sheets of waxed paper in airtight containers.

Click here to check for the rest of CV bakers. Thank you, Kate for the awesome challenge. :)
I even had some help from my little nephew who just turned 5 years old yesterday. He helped me to decorate one cookie.. It was so cute. :)

My little nephew decorate this cookie with red color gel. I decorate my Singapore flag, but couldnt see the crescent and the 5 stars... hehe..

Here are more photos of my decorated cookies...

Sweet & Simple Bakes (October) - Spooktacular - Halloween - Cupcakes

It's HALLOWEEN. I still remember when I was still working at Loof Bar last year, I had those artistic make up done by the expert. hehe..
Anyway for this month's challenge, it was Spooktacular - Halloween Cupcakes. My attempt to make this month's challenge, was good but not as spooky as what Rosie and Maria (Sweet and Simple Bakes) mentioned in the post. Well, by adding raisins and chocolate chip to the mixture, is that creative too?? Hmm.. I do not have the witch cookie cutter or pumpkin cookie cutter or the black color icing to decorate my cupcake. I used grapefruit icing and added orange color to it. The cut-outs were actually real cookie that I baked separately (unfortunately, they were slightly burnt because I forgot to turn the oven temperature down... lol). Besides using the normal cupcake cases, I used the mini paper cupcakes cases too because they look so cute.. mini.. ;)

Spooktacular - Halloween - Cupcakes!

Makes approximately 12 cupcakes

Ingredients
175g (6 oz / 1 &1/3 cups) self-raising flour
175g (6 oz /1 &1/2 sticks) butter, at room temperature
175g (6 oz / 1 cup) of caster sugar
3 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
3 - 4 tbsp milk
Icing/frosting of your choice – go wild and make a statement
Decorations of your choice – the spookier the better :)

You will need a 12 hole-muffin tin and 12 cupcake paper cases

Method
Preheat the oven to 200°C/fan180°C/400°F/Gas Mark 6. Line a 12 hole-muffin tin with cupcake paper cases.

Sieve the flour into a bowl and leave aside. In a large mixing bowl add the butter and sugar and beat until the mixture becomes light in colour and fluffy. Add one egg at a time beating well between each addition. Beat in the vanilla extract and then gently fold in the flour until combined. Stir in the milk until you have a good dropping consistency. Spoon the mixture equally into the prepared muffin tin and place in the preheated oven. Bake for 20 -25 minutes or until risen and golden and a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean. Transfer to a wire rack to completely cool.

Rosie’s notes:
1. Fill the cupcake paper cases no more than two-thirds full for the cupcakes to rise.
2. If the tops dome a little when completely cool, take a segregated knife and slice the domed tops off and discard, this enables flat tops for icing and decorations.
3. I have also measured my ingredients that I weighed out into cup measures as requested but please note if using, I cannot guarantee how accurate these measures are in cups.
4. If using plain flour because you cannot acquire self-raising flour add 1½ tsp of baking powder to the plain flour.

Though my cupcakes are not as spooky as they should be, but I tell you, they taste great!!! I am sure to make more of these cupcakes.. Thank you Rosie and Maria for this great recipe! :)
Check out the rest for the Spooktacular - Halloween - Cupcakes!!

Anyhoo, for the month of October, I was unable to complete one challenge from Cookie Carnival. But do check out for the October Round-Up here!

Have a good weekend everyone! :)

Amazing Chocolate Chips Cookies

A lot of people enjoy chocolate chip cookies or in general cookies. So I baked some chocolate chip cookies the other day. Everyone at home enjoyed these cookies. These delicious chocolate chips cookies were gone so quickly!!! It was gone within 2 days after I baked them. Its hard on the outside and soft in the inside. Even when I gave some to my cousin and my best friend, they said the cookies were gone fast too! hehe.. I did post about these chocolate chip cookies in livejournal before but now since I am using blogspot for my food blog, I should post these delicious chocolate chips cookies here too and share with everyone. Just too bad, I am unable to share these cookies with my fiance since we are so far away for now. :(

Here is the recipe.....

Ingredients:
1 cup butter, softened
1 cup white sugar
1 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla essence
1 tsp baking soda
2 tsp hot water
1/2 tsp salt
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 cup white chocolate chips
1 cup finely chopped pistachios (optional, in the photo, I did not use any nuts)

Instructions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 Deg

2. Dissolve baking soda in the hot water. Set aside. Cream together butter and both white and brown sugar until smooth. Add the eggs but one at a time, then stir in vanilla essence.

3. Add to the batter along with salt. Stir in flour, both white and chocolate chips and pistachios. Mix well.

4. Drop by large spoonful onto the cookie sheets.

5. Bake for 10 minutes or until the edges are nicely browned.

Cheers! :)

Cookie Carnival (September) : Pink Grapefruit Sandwich Cookies

For September's challenge at Cookie Carnival, Kate decided to choose Martha's Pink Grapefruit Sandwich Cookies suggested by Mari of Mevrouw Cupcake. When I read Kate's email, I think to myself, "Not, grapefruit!! So sour..." I remember, I ate this fruit long time ago and it was so sour, I never had it again!!!

Anyway, I had a hard time looking for this fruit. I couldn't find any grapefruit at the big supermarkets here but I found the fruit at "Sheng Shiong", a local grocery store. The cashier told me that the fruits just arrived that morning. I was so happy and immediately bought the fruit. As grapefruits are generally sour, I thought the cookies and the filling would be sour too but with the right amount of sweetness from honey and sugar, they taste great. But one thing for sure, my dad commented that the cookies were a little hard! :(

Well, you can get the recipe from Martha's website and also watch a video demo, Martha with Brenda Chenoweth of "Pushing Daisies." Click here to watch the video:

So here is the recipe:

Pink Grapefruit Sandwich Cookies

You can bake the cookies and make the filling a day ahead.

Ingredients for cookies

Makes 15 sandwich cookies. (I used a smaller cookie cutter so I had more than 15 cookies. hehe.. )

* Grated zest of 1 Ruby Red grapefruit, plus 1/4 cup freshly squeezed juice

* 1 cup sugar

* 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for work surface

* 3/4 cup cake flour (not self-rising)

* 1 teaspoon baking powder

* 1/2 teaspoon salt

* 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened

* 2 large egg yolks

* Pink Grapefruit Cream Filling

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper; set aside. In a small bowl, combine zest with 1 tablespoon sugar; set aside. In a medium bowl, whisk together both flours, baking powder, and salt; set aside.

2. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat butter and remaining sugar on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes, scraping down sides of bowl as needed. Add egg yolks, and beat until combined, scraping down sides of bowl as needed. Beat in reserved zest-sugar mixture. Add flour mixture in two batches, alternating with the juice, and beat to combine.

3. Turn out dough onto a piece of plastic wrap, and shape into a 1-inch-thick disk. Wrap in plastic, and refrigerate until firm, about 30 minutes.

4. On a lightly floured work surface, roll out disk to 1/8 inch thick using a lightly floured rolling pin. Using a lightly floured 2-inch round cookie cutter, cut out rounds and place about 1 inch apart on prepared sheet. Bake, rotating sheet halfway through, until edges are golden, 18 to 20 minutes. Transfer sheet to a wire rack to cool 5 minutes. Transfer parchment paper and cookies to rack to cool completely.

5. Using an offset spatula, spread 1 tablespoon filling onto flat sides of half the cookies. Sandwich with remaining cookies, keeping flat sides down. Once filled, cookies can be kept in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.

Ingredients for filling

Makes enough to fill 15 sandwich cookies.

* 1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened

* 2 cups confectioners' sugar

* 1 tablespoon honey

* 3 tablespoons freshly squeezed Ruby Red grapefruit juice

Directions

1. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 4 minutes. Beat in honey. Add juice, 1 tablespoon at a time, until filling holds together and is smooth and creamy, about 2 minutes. Transfer to a small bowl, cover, and set aside until ready to use.

Thanks Mari for your suggestion and Kate for choosing Mari's suggestion. Have a good day everyone! :)

Potato Chips Cookies

Cookies with potato chips??? A sweet and savory combined! The potato chips give a crunchy texture and these cookies can be given as a gift! It is quick, delicious and easy to prepare!

A while back, we went camping with some friends. I decided to bring the chocolate chips cookies and potato chips cookies. I wasn't sure if anyone would try the potato chip cookies. I was surprised and so pleased that they liked those cookies and by 2nd day of the camp, all cookies were gone!!! YAY! 

Recipe: Potato chips cookies
Makes about 3 dozen.

Ingredients:
1 cup butter
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cups flour, sifted

1/2 cup coarsely crushed potato chips (I tend to add more potato chips)1/2 cups chopped pecans (optional)

Instructions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (180 degrees C). Cream butter, sugar, vanilla until smooth and light.
3. Stir in flour until blended. Fold in potato chips and pecans.
4. Shape dough into balls and press gently. Place them on ungreased cookie sheet and bake for about 10 minutes or until light golden brown.
5. Transfer cookies to wire rack to cool completely. When cookies are cool, sprinkle with confectioners' sugar. Store in an airtight container.

Enjoy! :)