Viennese Whirls
These melt-in-the-mouth butter biscuits are always very popular during the festive seasons back home in Malaysia.
This is also the first time I have actually followed this classic recipe faithfully without doing much tinkering, which is 170g (6oz) flour, 170g (6oz) butter and 55g (2oz) sugar. Use icing sugar for a very fine-textured biscuits, but if you prefer a crunchier texture, use caster sugar. The fine texture of the biscuits is really melt-in-the-mouth, the commercially produced ones are pale in comparison to these home-made ones!
Make sure the butter is very, very soft for the creaming process. I always put the butter in the microwave on the low setting to soften, especially in winter months when the butter will not soften in room temperature, don’t worry if a little of the butter melts in the microwave, it will still cream beautifully. Once the mixture is ready for piping, it is best to pipe them all out quickly in one go before the mixture becomes too hard to pipe, especially in cold weather.
If you don’t like the glacé cherries, omit them, or alternatively bake the biscuits without the cherries and when they are cooled after baking, half-dip them in melted chocolate, or pipe melted chocolate onto them, then let the chocolate set before storing.
Makes approx. 25-30 medium-large biscuits, more if you make them mini sizes.
[Ingredients]
170g butter, softened
55g icing sugar, sifted
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
120g plain flour, sifted
50g cornflour, sifted
red glacé cherries, quartered
http://cafeoftheeast.blogspot.com/
[Preparation]
1. Preheat oven to 160°C.
2. Cream softened butter and icing sugar until pale and fluffy. Beat in vanilla.
3. Fold in both flours.
4. Fill a piping bag fitted with a 2cm star nozzle with the mixture (use 1cm star nozzle to make mini sized biscuits). Pipe out round whirls (or rosettes or stars) onto a baking sheet. Place a quartered cherry in the centre of each whirl as decoration.
5. Chill the whirls/rosettes/stars in the refrigerator, uncovered, for about 20-30 minutes before baking.
6. Remove from the refrigerator and bake immediately for about 20 minutes, or until light golden brown in colour (reduce baking time if you are making mini sized biscuits). If necessary, turn tray around halfway through baking to ensure even baking. After cooling, store in airtight containers.
I baked the first tray of biscuits at 170°C for 18 minutes, and the colour of the biscuits turned too brown.
Then I tried baking the remaining biscuits on the second tray at 160°C for 20 minutes and the colour is better, a light golden brown.
[Note]
1. Please note this recipe uses 1 standard cup of 250ml, 1 tablespoon of 20ml and 1 teaspoon of 5ml.
2. The size of egg used is about 60g (includes shell) unless otherwise stated.Labels: Biscuits (Cookies), Festives
Continue Reading......
Pecan Makmur (Pecan Biscuits à la Kuih Makmur)
While browsing for biscuit recipes on the net, I came across this recipe for
Pecan Crescent Cookies at
Epicurious.
It has got a very high user rating but since I did not wish to make them into crescent shapes, I decided to make a few small changes to turn them into Kuih Makmur styled biscuits. As it was also too much of a fuss to do the wrap-the-ground-nut-inside-the-biscuit-dough for the kuih Makmur, the mix-the-ground-nut-with-the-biscuit-dough just suited me to a T, so I decided to try it. Wow, they are definitely melt-in-your-mouth and so delicious! This one is definitely a keeper and I think it can also be easily made using peanut, walnut, almond or other type of nuts.
Adapted from the recipe 'Pecan Crescent Cookies' at Epicurious, USA.
Makes approx. 60+ biscuits.
[Ingredients]
300g plain flour, sifted
125g (about 1 cup) pecans
1/2 teaspoon salt
100g icing sugar, sifted
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
225g ghee, melted
extra icing sugar for dusting
http://cafeoftheeast.blogspot.com/
[Preparation]
1. Line a shallow microwaveable container with paper towel. Spread plain flour evenly on the paper towel and microwave on HIGH (650W microwave) for about 1 minute. Fluff the flour with a fork and repeat with a fresh piece of paper towel for another minute if necessary. Sift into a mixing bowl and let cool.
2. Toast pecans in a dry frying pan, over medium to low heat, for about 10 minutes, or until the pecans are slightly brown. Grind into powder.
3. Mix together flour, ground pecan, salt and sifted icing sugar in a big mixing bowl. Add vanilla and cooled melted ghee and mix into a soft dough.
4. Scoop 2 teaspoons of dough and make into a ball. Repeat with the rest of the dough. Chill the dough balls in refrigerator, covered, for 30 minutes before baking.
5. Preheat oven to 180°C.
6. Bake for about 12 minutes. Depending on your oven, baking time may varies, so watch carefully as biscuits will crack if baked for too long.
7. Cool the biscuits slightly then dust with or roll in icing sugar.
[Note]
Please note this recipe uses 1 standard cup of 250ml, 1 tablespoon of 20ml and 1 teaspoon of 5ml.Labels: Biscuits (Cookies), Festives
Continue Reading......
Kue Lapis Legit / Spekkoek
Lapis Legit, or Spekkoek (a Dutch word meaning lard cake or wafer) is an Indonesian cake associated with the Dutch colonization of the country.
Kue Lapis Legit (‘kue’ is Indonesian for ‘kuih’, ‘lapis’ meaning layer, ‘legit’ meaning sweet or nice and sticky of cake) is the more commonly known name for the cake in Indonesia, but the name Spekkoek or Spekuk is still being used also. In Malaysia or Singapore, it is called Kuih Lapis Batavia (Batavia was the Capital of Dutch East Indies, now the site of Jakarta), in order to differentiate it from another pudding of the region also commonly known as Kuih Lapis (or Kuih Lapis Beras) which is steamed and made with rice flour.
I have been wanting to try making this cake for a long time. However with about 30 egg yolks needed for a normal sized cake, I have never been brave enough to try. With the frenzy of cake orders from last week, I was left with over 20 egg yolks in my fridge, so the time has come for me to try this cake finally. I chose to use a recipe posted by a boardmate from Sarawak at 克萊兒的點心小棧 when we were discussing the cake about 2 or 3 years ago, as her family recipe uses only egg yolks, no egg whites at all. I was not too keen to use any recipes with some egg whites in them because apparently egg whites will make the cake firmer, not as soft as it should be. I halved the recipe using about 15 egg yolks and used a small loaf tin to bake it.
My ancient oven has a separate grill and oven. The grill does not have any temperature indicator, so I have to put a thermometer under the grill to control the temperature. Well, it was not too bad for a first attempt, the cake was very soft and moist, however I have to admit I actually burnt the first layer… and had to throw away that first layer and start all over again! Therefore be warned if you want to attempt making this cake – do not move away from the grill during the baking period, you have to watch it diligently at all time!
Adapted from the recipe '印尼千層糕' (posted by yy on February 16, 2003) at 克萊兒的點心小棧 (留言版), Canada.
Makes one small loaf tin.
[Ingredients]
Lapis Legit:
300g (about 15) egg yolks
125g caster sugar
50g sweetened condensed milk
50g plain flour
1 – 2 teaspoon(s) Lapis Legit Spice, depending on your taste
250g butter, softened at room temperature
Lapis Legit Spice (Bumbu Lapis Legit):
5cm length cinnamon quill (1 teaspoon ground cinnamon)
10 cloves (1/2 teaspoon ground clove)
5 green cardamoms (1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom)
1 segment of star anise (1/4 teaspoon ground star anise)
http://cafeoftheeast.blogspot.com/
[Preparation]
Lapis Legit Spice:
Toast the spices in a dry frying pan over medium to low heat for about 5 minutes. Remove and let cool. Split green cardamom pods by crushing lightly in a pestle and mortar, then remove seeds and discard pods. Put cardamom seeds, cinnamon quill, cloves and star anise segment in the pestle and mortar and grind into powder. Sift the mixed spice through a fine sieve before using, you should get about 2 teaspoons of the mixed spice.
Lapis Legit:
1. Whisk egg yolks and sugar until it is like a thick, mousse-like mixture and when you lift the whisk, leaves a trail like a piece of ribbon.
2. Add condensed milk and beat in to combine. Fold in sifted flour and Lapis Legit Spice.
3. Cream butter until light and fluffy. Little by little, mix the egg mixture into the creamed butter (see image 1 below, batter of Lapis Legit).
4. Preheat grill (or the top element of your oven) to about 120°C. Grease a loaf tin well and line bottom with a piece of baking paper, grease the paper as well. Put the empty prepared loaf tin under the grill to heat up for a couple of minutes.
5. Remove the loaf tin from the heat and use a ladle to scoop about 1/3 cup of batter into the tin. Use the back of a spoon to distribute the batter evenly and level the surface, the bottom part of the batter will start to melt from the heat, but do not worry about it. Put the tin back under the grill and grill for about 3-5 minutes, or until the top is golden brown in colour, you have to watch it carefully to prevent it from burning into charcoal (see image 2 above, golden brown layer of Lapis Legit)! Remove the loaf tin from the grill, prick the surface with a toothpick or bamboo skewer, then ladle another layer of batter on top, repeat as above making the layers until all batter is used up.
6. When the final layer is done, put the cake into a preheated oven (or turn off top element and turn on bottom element of your oven), 150°C, for about 15 minutes to finish baking.
7. Stand cake in tin for about 5 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack to cool (see image 3 above).
[Tip]
You may replace the Lapis Legit Spice with just 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon if you have problems getting the other spices.
[Variation]
Lapis Prune
(Note: I have not try this myself!)
Add about 200 - 250g seedless prunes. Cut each prune open and flatten. Then arrange a layer of the flattened prune after every 3 layers of batter.
[Note]
1. Please note this recipe uses 1 standard cup of 250ml, 1 tablespoon of 20ml and 1 teaspoon of 5ml.
2. The size of egg used is about 60g (includes shell) unless otherwise stated.Labels: Asian Cakes, Festives
Continue Reading......
Daikon Pudding 菜頭粿
The Daikon Pudding (I have used the Japanese name, ‘daikon’, rather than ‘Chinese radish’ or its various Chinese names, since ‘daikon’ is now the common
name for this vegetable in most western countries) is a popular savoury pudding served during the Spring Festival (Chinese New Year) in the Chinese households, especially those from or descendants of South-Eastern China, as this pudding originates from Fujian (Hokkien) and Guangdong (Canton) Provinces. It is known as chai-tao-kuih (菜頭粿) in Teochew and Hokkien dialects, or loh-bak-go (蘿蔔糕) in Cantonese. In the Teochew/Hokkien dialects, daikon is ‘chai-tao 菜頭’ which rhymes with ‘rising fortune 彩頭’, therefore this pudding has become a symbol of prosperity for the Chinese.
The Cantonese version of the pudding is slightly different from the Teochew/Hokkien version in that Cantonese added extra ingredients like preserved meats and Chinese mushrooms in their puddings making them more substantial and flavourful; whereas the Teochew/Hokkien version is more subtle. Whichever versions you prefer, they are both usually cut into thin slices and pan-fry before serving. However in South East Asia, Teochew/Hokkien descendants serve this pudding in a different way, by stir-frying the steamed pudding with a variety of ingredients. I tried to find out how this came about and the closest I could come to as an explanation seems to be that the Teochew have a traditional stir-fried rice pudding (炒糕粿 or simply known as 炒粿) dish. My guess is that instead of the rice pudding, South East Asians use the Teochew/Hokkien daikon pudding instead to stir-fry the dish…… How’s that for my theory, hey? Hehehe… (If anyone do know anything about the history/development of this pudding in South East Asia, any inputs would be appreciated – for example, does anyone from outside of South East Asia stir-fry their Daikon Pudding?)
This is my version of the South East Asian styled Stir-Fried Daikon Pudding. There are two versions, one white (plain coloured), the other dark in colour. I personally have not tasted the white version, so I cannot comment on that. However the dark version is one of my favourite savoury snacks. This version is an adaptation of a recipe I hand-copied off a cookbook I borrowed quite a few years ago, unfortunately I did not note down the name of the cookbook or the author at that time, so it remains a mystery to me today. I have made a few changes to the original recipe – for example including dried shrimps and shallot in the pudding itself to provide a more flavourful pudding; and also reducing the liquid content to make the pudding slightly firmer as I found the original recipe of the pudding was too soft for my taste.
A note about the stir-frying part, lard is recommended as that is the traditional fat for stir-frying this pudding because lard gives it that special flavour that other fats/oils cannot compare (unless you have health concern that prevents you from consuming lard). In my opinion, it is worth it since I do not eat/make this very often, the most probably only two or three times a year, so might as well make the most of it. Lastly, since this steamed pudding is meant to be stir-fried with other ingredients before serving, the seasoning for the pudding itself is very mild – so if you want to serve the pudding simply by pan-frying only, serve them with soy sauce and/or chilli sauce.
[Ingredients]
Daikon Pudding:
500g daikon (Chinese white radish 蘿蔔), finely grated
125ml (1/2 cup) water
40ml (2 tablespoons) canola or corn oil
25g (2 tablespoons) dried shrimps 蝦米, soaked then pounded, reserve soaking liquid
1 shallot 紅蔥頭, peeled & sliced
A:
500ml (2 cups) water, include reserved dried shrimps soaking liquid
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon white sugar
dash ground white pepper
B:
(Slowly pour water into rice flour and corn starch and mix into a batter)
360g (3 cups) rice flour 粘米粉
120g (1 cup) corn starch
625ml (2 1/2 cups) water
For Stir-Frying:
(Seasoning here is just a guide, please adjust to your taste)
lard for stir-frying
250g steamed daikon pudding, about 4 pieces of 8cm x 8cm x 1cm-piece
2 eggs
2 teaspoons dark soy sauce, or to taste
1 - 2 clove(s) garlic
2 teaspoons kecap manis (thick sweet soy sauce 晒油、甜醬油膏), or to taste
1 tablespoon chilli sauce, or to taste
1 tablespoon salted preserved radish (‘chaipo’ in Chines Hokkien 菜脯), chopped
1 - 2 stalks green (spring) onion, chopped
dash ground white pepper
fresh chillies for garnishing (optional)
http://cafeoftheeast.blogspot.com/
[Preparation]
To steam Daikon Pudding:
1. Put grated daikon and water in a saucepan and boil over medium heat for about 20 minutes until the daikon is soft. Remove and set aside, include all the liquid.
2. Heat a large saucepan, add oil and stir-fry the sliced shallot over medium heat until golden in colour. Add in pounded shrimps and stir-fry briefly until fragrant. Add in Ingredients (A) and bring to a boil.
3. Add in cooked daikon from step (1). Slowly pour in ingredients (B), stirring all the time, until the batter thickened. Remove and pour into a lined cake tin, level surface.
4. Steam over medium heat for about 1 hour, or until cooked through (test with a bamboo skewer). Remove and let cool completely – then chill, covered, in the refrigerator until ready to be used, it can be kept for one week in the refrigerator.
To stir-fry Daikon Pudding:
5. Heat a little lard in a wok and pan-fry the daikon pudding pieces until lightly brown and crisp on the outside. Push the pudding pieces to one side of the wok, add a little more lard and break in the eggs, scramble and mix in the pudding pieces. Add dark soy sauce, mix well.
6. Push the pudding pieces and scrambled egg to the side of the wok again, add more lard and fry the chopped garlic briefly, add kecap manis, chilli sauce, preserved radish and green onion. Mix in the pudding pieces, and use spatula to chop the pudding into bite-size pieces, stir-fry briefly to mix well. Add ground white pepper and dish into serving plate, garnish with fresh chillies if desired.
[Variation]
Pan-Fried Daikon Pudding – serve them with soy sauce and/or chilli sauce as desired.
[Note]
1. Please note this recipe uses 1 standard cup of 250ml, 1 tablespoon of 20ml and 1 teaspoon of 5ml.
2. The size of egg used is about 60g (includes shell) unless otherwise stated.Labels: Festives, Kuih-Muih
Continue Reading......
Nastar
Nastar, short for Ananastaartjes, are Indonesian version of the popular
Pineapple Tarts from Malaysia and Singapore. The most telling differences in this Indonesian version are the inclusion of
Dutch edam cheese (can be substituted with matured cheddar if edam is not available) in the pastry and also from its full Dutch name, Ananastaartjes, a legacy of the Dutch influences in that country.
There are a number of different ways all these miniature Pineapple Tarts (be it Malaysian, Singaporean or Indonesian) can be shaped – open-tart shape, open-ended roll shape, ball shape or fruit shape. Nonetheless in whichever guises, these biscuit-sized tarts are very popularly served during Chinese New Year in this part of the world because the word ‘pineapple’ in Chinese Hokkien dialect has the same sounding as ‘prosperity comes’, an auspicious symbol for the New Year! Here I have made them into the popular shape of miniature oranges or mandarins, as these are also lucky fruits for the Chinese. So, prosperity and good luck for the New Year, what more can any person ask!
Makes approx. 48 tarts.
[Ingredients]
Pastry:
200g plain flour
40g vanilla custard powder
20g milk powder
40g edam or cheddar (preferably matured) cheese, grated
160g reduced-salt butter, softened
60g icing sugar
1 egg yolk
Filling:
400g Pineapple Tarts Filling, but cooked a bit longer to make it dryer so can be rolled into small balls
Topping:
48 cloves
1 beaten egg yolk for glazing
http://cafeoftheeast.blogspot.com/
[Preparation]
Filling:
Divide filling into 4 equal portions of 100g each. Roll each 100g portion into a log and divide equally into 12 small pieces. Roll each piece into a small ball for use as filling.
Pastry:
1. Preheat oven to 180°C. Sift together plain flour, custard powder and milk powder. Grate cheese finely.
2. Cream softened butter and icing sugar til pale and creamy. Mix in grated cheese. Beat in egg yolk to combine. Fold in sifted flour mixture to form a soft dough.
3. Divide dough into 4 equal portions, which will be approximately 135g each. Roll each portion into a log and divide equally into 12 small pieces.
To make Nastar:
1. Wrap each ball of pineapple filling inside each piece of pastry dough. Roll into ball shape. Place apart onto a biscuit/cookie tray.
2. Brush top of each Nastar with the beaten egg yolk. Stick a clove on each Nastar to resemble the stem of a miniature orange.
3. Bake on middle shelf of the preheated oven for about 15 minutes, or until the pastry is light golden brown in colour. Remove, cool then store in airtight tins.
[Note]
The size of egg used is about 60g (includes shell) unless otherwise stated.Labels: Biscuits (Cookies), Festives
Continue Reading......
Kuih Bangkit Mentega
I’ve decided to call this Kuih Bangkit Mentega (or Butter Tapioca Crumbles) to differentiate it from the traditional Kuih Bangkit which does not use butter
in its ingredients. I have tried making traditional Kuih Bangkit a couple of times before, but all in vain! They all came out hard as rock……So last year, after reading a blog by dahnylin of 我在印度尼西亞。。。 (I’m in Indonesia…) fame, I’ve decided to give it another go. This recipe differs from the traditional by using margarine in the ingredients. I’ve adapted it to use butter instead. They came out puffy, crispy and melt-in-the-mouth all at once, all the essential qualities of a good Kuih Bangkit!
Another thing I tried was to microwave the tapioca flour instead of dry-frying to rid it of any excess moisture. I have tried dry-frying the last couple of times, and I can tell you that’s a very tedious job indeed having to stir the flour continuously throughout. I thought why not just do it in the microwave to dry it out? Quick and simple! Mind you, I haven’t seen or heard it being done in the microwave before and I had vision of the flour exploding in my microwave, ha ha… So anyway, the first time I tried, I put the flour directly on the microwave-safe container and after microwaving, a thin layer of flour stuck to the bottom of the container as the moisture actually condensed to the bottom and stuck the layer of flour to the container like glue! So I tried with a piece of paper towel next, and this time it worked, the paper towel absorbed the moisture. As this was an experiment on my part, I only microwaved it for 1 minute as the flour seemed hot and dry enough, so I left it at that. If the flour seems to be not dried enough, you can tell by how ‘wet’ the paper towel is, I think I would sift the flour out first to another container (to air it out a bit), then put the flour on a fresh, dry paper towel and microwave for another 30 seconds or so… Well, that’s what I would do anyway…
Adapted from the recipe ‘KUE BANGKIT －榜吉糕’ at ‘我在印度尼西亞。。。’, Indonesia.
Makes at least 50 small biscuits using traditional Kuih Bangkit moulds.
[Ingredients]
200g tapioca flour
50g reduced-salt butter, softened
100g icing sugar, sifted
50ml (approx.) coconut cream, adjust as necessary
1 egg yolk
1/4 teaspoon vanilla powder
http://cafeoftheeast.blogspot.com/
[Preparation]
1. Line the inside of a microwave-safe container with paper towel (kitchen paper), spread tapioca flour evenly on top of the paper, microwave on HIGH (650W microwave) for 1 minute. Remove, sift into a mixing bowl and cool, set aside. Preheat oven to 160°C.
2. Mix icing sugar and vanilla powder with cooled tapioca flour, mix in softened butter and egg yolk. Gradually add in coconut cream until you get a soft, pliable dough. You may need more, or less coconut cream than suggested depending on the absorption capability of the flour, and how much moisture it contained when you weighed it in the beginning (this time I ended up using about 60ml).
3. Use the traditional Kuih Bangkit moulds to shape the biscuits. Alternatively, roll the dough out and cut with small cookie cutters, preferably flower shaped.
4. Bake for about 20 minutes, or until dry but still light in colour. Cool and store in airtight container.
[Tip]
It is imperative that coconut cream (fresh, thick coconut milk without addition of water) is used in this recipe, not thin coconut milk! If canned coconut cream is used, do not shake the can before opening, then only use the cream that’s floating on top.
[Note]
1. Please note this recipe uses 1 standard cup of 250ml, 1 tablespoon of 20ml and 1 teaspoon of 5ml.
2. The size of egg used is about 60g (includes shell) unless otherwise stated.Labels: Biscuits (Cookies), Festives
Continue Reading......
Cashew Sugee Cookies
As I mentioned in my
previous post, I have started some preliminary baking in preparation for the coming Chinese New Year.
This is one which I first tried my hand on making a couple of years ago which was not 100% satisfactory. So I dug out the recipe again and made a few changes to produce a crispier biscuit but still having a slightly melt-in-the-mouth texture after biting into it. As sugee (fine semolina) flour add a coarser texture to the biscuit, I decided to use self-raising flour instead of plain flour to add puffiness and lightness to the biscuit. However I think there was not enough acidity in the other ingredients to counteract with the baking soda in the self-raising flour, leaving residual baking soda in the biscuit which left a slight taste of tartness on the tongue after eating a few. So I would suggest substituting the 180g self-raising flour with 90g plain flour and 90g self-raising flour to see if that can prevent this problem. But apart from that, the biscuit is very crispy on first bites, then slowly melt-in-your-mouth!
Makes approx. 50 cookies
[Ingredients]
180g self-raising flour (see tip below)
60g fine semolina (sugee) flour
60g roasted cashew nuts, finely ground
150g reduced-salt butter, softened
80g caster sugar
http://cafeoftheeast.blogspot.com/
[Preparation]
1. Preheat oven to 160°C. Cream butter and caster sugar, fold in sifted dry ingredients.
2. Pinch into marble-sized balls (about 10-15g each), space them about 5cm apart on a cookie tray.
3. Bake for about 15 minutes, or when the cookies start to crack on the surface. Cool and store in airtight container.
[Tips]
1. If reduced-salt butter is not available, I would suggest using unsalted butter instead, but add a pinch of salt.
2. This version is very puffy because I used all self-raising flour to make, and I found that after eating a few of the biscuits, a slightly tart taste on the tongue. So I’m wondering if that is due to the residual baking soda in the flour not having enough acids in the other ingredients to react with. It might be better if next time use 90g plain flour and 90g self-raising flour to substitute the 180g self-raising flour to see if that will get rid of the problem.Labels: Biscuits (Cookies), Festives
Continue Reading......
Biskut Mama Carries
I started to organize my recipe collections of biscuits/cookies recently in preparation for the coming Chinese New Year baking. Well, what can I say, after the success of the Mango Tarts for Christmas, I am now thinking of baking that again, but doing the traditional pineapple filling, plus some other biscuits like Kuih Bangkit (which I have never had success with which bugged me to no end, grrrrr……), Cashew Biscuits, Kuih Arab (aka Ghee Biscuits) etc. While pulling together some of these common CNY biscuit recipes, I came across about four recipes for this biscuit called Biskut Mama Carries which I have downloaded from the net previously.
All of them were written in Malay. The name actually caught my attention in the first place, maybe that’s why I downloaded the recipes. In my imagination, it reminded me of those old fashioned, cosy type of comfort food where Mama-, Papa-, Granny-, etc are attached to the front of their brand names. So, I tried to search where the name came from, is it a brand name called Mama Carries, or is it the name of the person who first created the recipe, but I came up with nought!
I must admit I haven’t really paid much attention to the recipes before even though I had taken the trouble of downloading them, but as I browsed through one of the recipes which has a small picture attached with the recipe, I read through it carefully. Then I read the others and found that they were all very similar. The biscuit part is almost identical to the pastry that I had used for making the Mango Tarts. So I dropped what I was doing and sort of put those recipes together and came up with this version, hehehe……… I am really glad I made them because they came up a treat, and not too sweet. The biscuit is melt-in-the mouth, the icing is very crispy on the outside with a slightly chewy texture on the inside, hmmm, yummy! However the only problem, if I could call it a problem at all, was that the icing part lifted up from the biscuit after baking… Not sure what happened there, as the picture which caught my attention had the icing sitting prettily on top of the biscuit. Maybe it was due to my addition of extra icing sugar because I thought the icing was too thin for spreading consistency, and I added extra 10g of icing sugar to the recipe. Am also wondering whether the cornflour quantity was a bit too much… But that was just my pickiness, all in all still very delicious!
Lastly, as I have never actually seen or eaten this biscuit before, I’m not really sure whether it is only made in the shape of heart, or can be any other shapes, since the recipes I have all indicated heart-shaped. From the only picture of it, it looked very petite, probably can be popped into your mouth in one whole piece. As my smallest heart shaped cookie cutter is still quite big, I have to use that to make, which in comparison to the picture looks about twice its size, not petite at all, oh well!
Makes approx. 20 biscuits (or depending on size of cutter used).
[Ingredients]
Biscuit dough:
180g unsalted butter, softened
240g plain flour
30g vanilla custard powder
30g milk powder
pinch salt
60g icing sugar
1 egg yolk
Icing:
1 egg white
100g icing sugar
10g (1 tablespoon) cornflour
1/2 tablespoon (approx.) cocoa powder
http://cafeoftheeast.blogspot.com/
[Preparation]
1. Preheat oven to 180°C. Sift plain flour, custard powder, milk powder and salt. Cream softened butter with icing sugar until pale and creamy. Beat in egg yolk to combine. Fold in sifted flour mixture until you get a soft dough.
2. Roll out dough to about 1cm thickness and using a heart shaped cutter, cut out the dough. Space them out on a cookie tray.
3. Beat egg white with sugar until stiff peaks, fold in cornflour. Remove about 2 tablespoons of the meringue mixture and mix in cocoa powder to make a brown meringue. Spread white meringue onto each piece of the biscuit dough. With the brown meringue, use a toothpick or bamboo skewer to make some design on the white meringue.
4. Bake on middle shelf of the preheated oven for about 15 minutes, or until the biscuit is light golden brown in colour. Remove, cool then store in airtight tins.
[Note]
1. Please note this recipe uses 1 standard cup of 250ml, 1 tablespoon of 20ml and 1 teaspoon of 5ml.
2. The size of egg used is about 60g (includes shell) unless otherwise stated.Labels: Biscuits (Cookies), Festives
Continue Reading......
Mango Tarts / Pineapple Tarts
Without any doubts, Pineapple Tarts are my favourite biscuits/cookies during the festive seasons in Malaysia. However it is near impossible to get these mini tart cutters
for making the tarts here in Australia. So after a few experimentations, I have come up with this version using piping bag. It is easy to make and the sunflower shapes of the tarts are so attractive! Having bought quite a lot of cheap mangoes since they are currently in season, I have decided to make Mango Tarts instead of the traditional Pineapple Tarts for Christmas. I have to say they came up triumph with everyone I gave for tasting!
After some experimentations, I have finally hit on the melt-in-the-mouth combination for the pastry which I love! It is also soft enough to pipe, although you need a bit of force to pipe the dough out (please invest in a good quality, sturdy piping bag available in specialty kitchen shops for this or else you might risk damaging the cheaper type of piping bag sold in supermarkets). I used a size #13 star nozzle attachment for piping the sunflower shapes. To make filling in easier, pipe out mango filling from a small piping bag with a small round nozzle attached. You can easily make a small piping bag from baking paper with a small hole cut at the end and it is good enough to pipe out the soft filling.
[Ingredients]
Filling (enough for 150+ tarts):
600g (about 3 large ripe mangoes) mango flesh
150g white sugar
150g maltose
1 tablespoon lime juice
Pastry (makes about 50 tarts):
240g plain flour
60g vanilla custard powder
200g butter (use salted or reduced-salt), softened
50g soft icing mixture or pure icing sugar
1 egg yolk
http://cafeoftheeast.blogspot.com/
[Preparation]
Filling:
Put mango flesh, sugar, maltose and lime juice into a saucepan and cook, stirring continuously, until thick jam consistency (it took me about 45 minutes). Do not overcook or else it will be too dry and become hard as rock after baking. Cool before use.
Pastry:
1. Preheat oven to 180°C. Sift plain flour and custard powder. Cream softened butter with icing mixture til pale and creamy. Beat in egg yolk to combine. Fold in sifted flour mixture til you get a sticky dough.
2. Put the dough into a sturdy piping bag fixed with a size #13 star nozzle. Pipe out star shaped pastry with an indentation in the middle (ie. pipe out the star then push the nozzle lightly down to make an indentation). Fill the indentation with a little mango filling.
3. Bake on middle shelf of the preheated oven for about 15 minutes, or til the pastry is light golden brown in colour. Remove, cool then store in airtight tins, separate layers of tarts with a piece of baking paper to prevent sticking.
[Variations]
Pineapple Tarts
Use the same pastry as above, but for the filling, use:
[Ingredients]
2 x 440g tin crushed pineapple in natural juice
200g white sugar, or to taste
1 clove
pinch nutmeg or cinnamon (optional)
[Preparation]
Drain the crushed pineapple then squeeze until quite dry, retaining about 1/2 cup juice to cook with the pineapple. Add sugar and clove (and nutmeg or cinnamon if using), cook until thick jam consistency (it took me about 15-20 minutes) then cool before use.
[Tip]
If you don’t have time to let butter softens in room temperature, cut butter into large chunks and microwave on low setting for 1 minute. Check and if necessary, repeat until you get very soft butter.
[Note]
1. Please note this recipe uses 1 standard cup of 250ml, 1 tablespoon of 20ml and 1 teaspoon of 5ml.
2. The size of egg used is about 60g (includes shell) unless otherwise stated.Labels: Asian Pastries, Biscuits (Cookies), Festives
Continue Reading......
