Chinese Almond Cookies

http://userealbutter.com/2011/01/23/chinese-almond-cookies-recipe/

A little guy really pissed me off today.  It may sound silly that I was mad at a kid.  Perhaps I should say that I was just disappointed.  Pissed at him, disappointed in myself.  I literally felt the pain when I could not help this little someone I care so much about.  To put myself in his shoes, to really see things from his perspective, it is much easier said than done.  I guess that's why people say that they keep learning from their kids.  

I was pretty much speechless tonight and decided to bake at 1 am.  Baking calms me down.  This recipe is supposed to yield 42 cookies.  I made them bigger and came up with 24.  I also used half butter and half shortening.  Unfortunately I forgot about not having almond extract at home, so I found the cookies lack of almond flavour.  Other than that, these cookies are absolutely easy to make and very tasty.  They are perfect for celebrating Chinese New Year.  

Tang Zhong Toast

I just bought this WS Traditional Finish Pullman Loaf Pan the other day and used it to bake the Tang Zhong toast.  This recipe called for baking time of 30 minutes, however, the instruction that comes with the loaf pan indicated to bake for 40 minutes.  I did it for 35.  The centre was soft but it has air bubbles, I probably didn't knead the dough enough.  I keep thinking of all the different varieties of bread I can bake using this loaf pan.  I can't wait to let my sister in-law try the pan out.  She is a much better baker than I.  

Ingredients:

A) Dough starter

Bread flour         20g

Water                80ml

Unsalted butter  10g

Salt                   ¼ tsp

B) Milk              130ml

C) Dough

Bread flour         300g

Milk powder       15g

Sugar                 25g

Instant yeast      1½ tsp

Salt                   ¼ tsp

Water               20 – 30ml

Unsalted butter 20g (room temperature)

Instructions:

1. Cook ingredients (A) in pot on low heat, whisk until a paste formed. Scrape it to a large mixing bowl.
2. Add ingredient (B) to cool the temperature.
3. Add ingredients (C) excluding water and butter to the bowl.  Start mixing.  It will be very sticky.
4. After everything well mixed, add water.  Keep kneading until the water is evenly mixed in.
5. Add butter. After kneading in the bowl for about 30 times, all moisture should be absorbed and the dough should be smooth.
6. Take it to a floured surface and keep kneading for 10 more minutes.
7. Shape the dough into a ball, put it in a slightly greased bowl, seam side down.  Cover with plastic and leave it in a warm place.
8. After 50-60 mins, size of the dough should be about doubled.  Punch it down and knead a few times on a lightly floured surface again to remove bubbles.
9. Put the dough in a greased 9” x 5” loaf pan.  Press it down.  Wait for second proof rising up to about the height of the loaf pan.
10. Put it in preheated 390F oven, middle rack for approx. 30 mins.

Parisian Macarons

I did it!  I did it!  I did it!

Apple Cinnamon Muffins

http://apples-almonds.blogspot.com/2010/11/apple-cinnamon-muffins.html

Apples and cinnamon... what a perfect combination.  I am glad to have found this oh-so-simple recipe... it only requires dicing the apples and mixing the ingredients.  These muffins are light and moist, and there is a big chunk of apple that comes with every bite.   

Portuguese Egg Tarts

http://rasamalaysia.com/portuguese-egg-tarts/

OK, so I cheated... I used store bought frozen puff pastry.  I personally think there is just absolutely no reason to make my own puff pastry or phyllo pastry after my one failed attempt.  It was a total disaster, I had butter everywhere in the kitchen.  Store bought ones are good enough, I have said it.

I tend to prefer the custard in the centre somewhat wobbly, so I only baked them for 13 minutes.  I also reduced the sugar by 1/3 and still found them too sweet.  Having said that, I have to say they are quite delicious.  Perhaps next time I shall try making egg custard tarts (Hong Kong style). 

Citrus Madeleines

http://www.mykitchensnippets.com/2010/04/citrus-madeleines.html

I have finally got my act together and cleaned up my disgusting oven. Now I can see what I am baking through the oven window...


I just bought a madeleine pan yesterday from the newly renovated "Toss & Serve" at FCP.   I have never had madeleines before so I don't know what the texture is like.  I did some research online and found that the texture is something between cookie and cake... I do like the shape of it.  The shop owner told me the madeleines always come out nicer if baked from a regular metal pan.  Make sure you brush the indentations of the madeleine pan carefully filling in all the ridges with melted butter, dust with flour and tap off any excess.  


This recipe yields 18 madeleines and if you bake them for 10 minutes, you will get the crisp, golden edges.  I like them without the crisp edges. 


The pictures are taken with my new Olympus E-Pen 1 camera without flash in my poorly lit kitchen.  They turned out to be quite good.  

Palmiers

http://ooh-look.blogspot.com/2010/09/elegant-palmiers.html

Some day I am going to make my own puff pastry but this time just let me use the frozen ready-rolled version.  Just follow the recipe.  This is super easy to make.