Oriental Soya Cookies

I just moved out from the flat I had lived for 2 years & I'm living with my sister who just started working in London.

To be honest, I have no idea how things will be with her after all I don't have much experience living with family since I stay in UK.

I don't have time to manage the blog, so I'll keep it updated very slowly…

Moreover, I don't have the energy to bake anything complicated but simple cakes & cookies.

These oriental cookies are made of soya flour, the recipe is simple & I have all the ingredients in my cupboard.

The cookies are delicious & crunchy.

Galette Bretonne au Caramel

Happy New Year!

A long overdue post!

I should have updated 2 weeks ago but I thought I couldn't write any more as I have a few reports to write.

Alongside with that, I started this year resolution with a photography project 'A Photo A Day' in January.

If that's going well, I'll extend it to '365 photos'.

Furthering my obsession with caramel & galette bretonne, I've baked a batch with salted caramel sauce.

I can't be bothered to rewrite the recipe of the caramel sauce but you can find it here.

The texture & flavour of these cookies have never failed me.

Rich & crispy, simply delicious :)

Galette Bretonne

I'm totally in love with these classic & elegant French shortbreads.

It is originated from Bretagne (Brittany) in France.

This is not a traditional recipe which just uses butter, egg & flour.

This recipe from cakechef is much more sophisticated with a thoughtful consideration of taste & texture.

The ground almond makes it even more flakier & crunchier.

I baked this recipe once without cooking rings & the biscuits turned out so crunchy & delicious.

I couldn't resist to bake again with rings so I've bought 20 cookies rings just for these buttery cookies.

I can assure you will love these cookies. 

For a little variation, I also whipped up whipping cream with lime & orange to make the syllabub.

Serve as a simple tart with the syllabub & any fruits you like.

 Enjoy with a cup of coffee :)

Almond Cookies - Malaysian Style

It all started when my sister Jenny baked these lovely cookies months ago.

Since then, these cookies are baked twice a week.

I didn't really get my hands on these cookies since Jenny bakes batches of cookies.

Then there was a week & there was no cookies left.

My mum started to complain & murmured that there was no cookies left.

She is cheesecake lover, also a cookies lover.

To keep her happy, I called my sister for the recipe & finally baked some.

So you can tell how irresistible these cookies are.

In this recipe, salt is a must, it adds contrast to the sweetness & bring out the after taste.

It's so simple yet yummy.

If you're almond cookies lover, you must try this.

Bank Holiday Weekend III ~ Osmanthus & Pinepple Squares

Photo taken by Sei-Him Cheong

Pineapple cake is so popular in Taiwan, almost every tourist is sure to get them as souvenirs, at least I did.

I have travelled to Taiwan twice, I bought boxes of pineapple cakes every time.

I wrote boxes, one for myself & couples for my family & friends.

People call it cake but actually it's more like a biscuit to me, not crispy but soft with a chewy pineapple filling.

I would rather call the ones I made pineapple squares, even though there're not perfect squares.

Hazelnut Chocolate Cookies

I have baked these cookies twice now.

It's absolutely delicious!

Once I start eating it, I can't stop myself from eating.

Recipe:

140g unsalted butter

170g plain flour
70 roasted whole hazelnuts
80g sugar
25g cocoa powder
1/2 tsp baking powder (b.p.)
110-140g chopped nuts

Whisk butter & sugar until fluffy & light in colour.

Sieve in the flour, cocoa powder, b.p. & fold until well-mix.

Roll the dough into 70 small sized balls.
Wrap one whole hazelnut with one ball of batter then coated with chopped nuts.

Bake at 180'C in preheated oven for 15 - 20 min.

N.B. This recipe makes 70 mouthful size cookies.

Green Tea Sweets

Baking weekend, just baked some green tea shortbread cookies.

Original recipe from Amai Tea & Bake House.

I used a large egg instead of 3 large egg yolks.

Well, it tastes good and not sweet but has a green tea aroma.

Every one likes green tea will love it!

Honestly, I don't fancy green tea that much, but I have 2 bags of green tea powder from Taiwan.

I only thing use it for baking or making a green tea milk (1/4 tsp green tea powder in a cup of milk).

I think it's great to find some recipes to consume it.

Recipe:

100g icing sugar

150g unsalted butter

290g plain flour

1 large egg

4.5 tsp green tea powder/Matcha

granulated sugar (for coating)

Sieve green tea powder & icing sugar, then mix together.

Add in the butter & whisk until fluffy and light in colour.

Sieve in the flour & mix well.

Add the egg & mix into a smooth dough.

Roll into small sized balls, flatten slightly, & coated with granulated sugar.

Bake at 180'C in preheated oven for 15 min (until golden colour around the edge).

NB: A cookie cutter is used in the original recipe, the dough is flattened and then cooled in a refrigerator for 30 min before cutting with a cookie cutter.

End of my short Easter break in Basildon, I'm going back to London tomorrow.

My revision progress is on the schedule, so not to worry if I can keep on.

As the time approaches the summer, I'm getting to think about the future more often.

Telling myself to STOP thinking & focus on the project & exams.

But I can't stop myself from thinking about it...

Walnut Cookies

Haven't updated my blog about a month.

I was just too lazy and busy...

Too many things were getting on together, I can't cope with all of them at the same time.

So, not much time and energy left to update the blog.

I still keep on baking during weekend because of my mum who loves biscuits.

I tried this recipe from a chinese book I bought from a taiwanese website.

This is absolutely delicious!

It taste like the old traditional walnut cookies I used to have in Malaysia.

I think I'll bake more & replace the walnuts with cashew nuts or peanuts.

Enjoy!

Recipe:

Cookie batter:

120g icing sugar

150g butter (unsalted)

230g plain flour

50g cornstarch

1/2 tsp soda

1/2 tsp baking powder

1 egg

Decoration:

1 egg (slightly beaten)

some walnut halves

Bake half of the flours (110g plain flour + 25g cornstarch) at 180'C for 15 min. Let it cool down before use.

Sieve all the flours including the baked flours, icing sugar, soda & baking powder.

Add the butter & egg, blend everything into a soft dough.

Cover the dough with plastic film & let it rise at room temperature for 30 min.

Roll into small sized balls, place 5 cm apart, flatten slightly.

Brush some egg on top then slightly press one piece of walnut into the batter.

Bake at 170'C in preheated oven for 18 - 20 min, then switch off the heat & let it stand for 10 min before removing from the oven.

Wholemeal Sesame Cookies

As my colleagues, Sue & Doug like the cookies I made last week which was the black sesame cookies.

I baked another batch of cookies yesterday for them.

But I didn't have any black sesame powder so I tried another recipe.

This recipe is healthier because it uses less sugar & wholemeal flour.

Well, this is not as tasty as the previous ones but better for the health.

Recipe:

1 egg

100g butter (unsalted)

120g plain flour

30g corn flour

50g wholemeal flour

90g sugar

1/2 tsp bp

3 tsp black sesame seeds

Method:

1. Butter (softened) + sugar, beat until smooth. 

3. Add egg & mix well.

4. Add flours, bp & black sesame seeds & mix well.

5. Roll into small sized balls, place 5 cm apart, flatten slightly.

8. Bake at 170'C for 15 - 20 min.

Black Sesame Cookies

I've baked some black sesame cookies on Saturday.

It's very tasty but a bit sweet to me.

I think I'll reduce the sugar next time if I bake it again although my family said it's alright.

I'm now baking muffins for my breakfast.

I can't believe I can keep it up, this is the 3rd week I'm having muffins.

Well, I try not to have the same favour every time.

Back to college tomorrow~~~ end of holiday -____-

Recipe:

1 egg

100g butter (unsalted)

190g plain flour

120g sugar (reduced to 110g might be better)

soda 1/2 tsp

70g black sesame seeds

Method:

1. Grind 40g black sesame seeds into powder.

2. Butter (softened) + sugar, beat until smooth. 

3. Add egg & mix well.

4. Add sieved plain flour, soda & black sesame powder & mix well.

5. Add 30g of black sesame seeds & mix well.

6. Put it in the fridge for 30 min.

7. Roll into small sized balls, place 5 cm apart, flatten slightly.

8. Bake at 170'C for 15 - 20 min.

I didn't grind the black sesame seeds, instead I got it from a Japanese grocery shop called Rice Wine Shop in Soho.

The black sesame seeds can be replaced with the white ones because it's available in most supermarkets.

Well, I tried this recipe before with almond powder (60g) & white sesame seeds (20g).

I forgot to take a photo before eating it all.

It tasted the same, but I forgot to reduce the sugar this time when I used black sesame seeds.

Lavender Cookies~ (recipe)

It's my last week in Arrow.

I think maybe I should bake a cake or something to thank them.

So I baked some lavender cookies & a honey cake for my colleagues.

I'm pleased that they like it.

I promised to give the recipe to Verity, so I think I should also post it here.

I've baked lavender cookies many times.

It's one of my favourite cookies.

Recipe:

80g icing sugar

100g unsalted butter

200g plain flour

50g corn flour

1 tsp baking powder

2 tbsp dried lavender

Infuse lavender in hot water, then drain away the water.

Butter (softened) + sugar, beat until smooth.

Sift plain flour & corn flour in & mix well.

Add the lavender & mix well.

Wrap with plastic film & refrigerate for 30 min.

Roll into small sized balls, place 5 cm apart, flatten slightly.

Bake at 180'C in preheated oven for 15-20 min.

Green Tea Biscuits

I've made some green tea biscuits last week.

I always wanted to use the green tea powder I bought from Taiwan.

The recipe I found online doesn't use green tea powder, I think it might be a good idea to put some in.

Fortunately, it still tastes good. ^o^

Next time, I wanna try making green tea cake.

自从爱上了烤饼干后，一有空闲就会在网上找食谱。
其实烘焙是我三姐的爱好，我常叫她烤饼干给我。
可是，她是半工半读的，所以很忙。
之后我就开始自己来，我自己烤的都是少甜的。
觉得外面卖得都太甜了，现在我都不在外面买饼干了。

Recipe:

75g icing sugar

50g unsalted butter

140g plain flour

30g corn flour

1/4 tsp soda

50g milk

2 tsp green tea powder

Butter (softened) + sugar, beat until smooth.

Add milk, mix well.

Sift plain flour & corn flour in & mix well.

Add green tea powder & mix into a soft dough.

Wrap with plastic film & refrigerate for 30 min.

Roll into small sized balls, place 5 cm apart, flatten slightly.

Bake at 150'C in preheated oven for 25 min.

Chinese Walnut Cookies

I already mentioned that I made some biscuits last weekend.

These were the last batch I made on Sunday night.

I like eating chinese walnut cookies so when I found an easy recipe compared to the traditional recipe, I gave it a try.

I think this wasn't as good as the one I can get from Chinatown.

But my mum said it's nice.

I think maybe I should have roasted the walnut 1st before adding to the dough & put more walnuts in.

I'll try to make some again.

Recipe:

75g icing sugar

55g butter (unsalted)

150g plain flour

1g soda in 20g water

25g whole walnut (suggest 30g or more)

1 egg (beaten) for brushing

Roast walnut in the oven at 150'C for 15 min, then grind into small chips once cool.

Butter (softened) + sugar, beat until smooth & fluffy.

Add soda + water & blend well.

Stir in sifted plain flour.

Add walnut chips & mix well.

Roll into small sized balls, place 5 cm apart, flatten slightly, then use a brush to put some egg (beaten) on top.

Bake at 180'C in preheated oven for 18 - 20 min.

Almond Choco Cookies

Finished work earlier yesterday due to an accident in the lab.

Someone broke a bottle of chemical, so the lab had to be closed.

It happened around 4 pm, so we just finished work earlier.

Accidents do happen in the lab, so when it happens we just learn from it.

So, I used my extra time to make some cookies again.

This is my favourite cookies.

Recipe:

1 egg

75g sugar

75g butter (unsalted)

100g plain flour

30g corn flour

25g cocoa powder

75g almond flakes

Butter (softened) + sugar, beat until fluffy & smooth.

Add egg, mix well.

Sift plain flour & corn flour in & mix well.

Add cocoa powder & mix well.

Add almond flakes, blend into a smooth dough, then make in a long roll.

Wrap with plastic film & refrigerate for 30 min until stiff.

Cut the roll into 0.5cm thick slices & bake at 170'C for 18 - 20 min.

Swirl Choco Cookies

Made some cookies last night.

Seiko (new Japanese flatmate) likes it very much, she ate a few of them.

She said she shouldn't have eaten cos it's already 10 pm when I baked the cookies.

Recipe:

1 egg

80g butter (unsalted)

1/4 tsp rum

1/4 tsp vanilla extract

100g plain flour

30g corn flour

40g sugar (original recipe 50g)

10g cocoa powder

Butter (softened) + sugar, beat until fluffy & smooth.

Add egg, rum & vanilla extract, mix well.

Sift plain flour & corn flour in & mix well.

Add cocoa powder to half of the dough & mix well.

Flatten both doughs into thin sheets, then put one on top of the other & roll it up.

Wrap with plastic film & refrigerate for 30 min.

Cut the roll into 0.5cm thick slices & bake at 180'C for 15 - 20 min.

Lavender Cookies~~幸福的味道

No more lab from this week ^O^
So, I'm a bit free although I still have a report + Japanese exams...
I just made some lavender cookies.
Mmm... taste nice ^___^
Found the recipe online, but it's in chinese.
Will try to make rose cookies later if I'm not too lazy.

最近迷上了做饼干，之前就已经做过巧克力杏仁饼。
觉得外表不大好看所以当时没拍下，不过还是蛮好吃的。
今天有些时间就做了些薰衣草饼干。
在烤这个饼干的时候，整个厨房都充满了薰衣草的香味。
有幸福的感觉，大概是好久没有这么轻松了。
有时间可以试试看，饼干很好吃，烤好后就吃了几块。