Books on Making Truffles

Made another trip to the library yesterday afternoon and got my hands on some chocolate truffles making books. And yes! Truffles will be next on my list of attempts! Hopefully my truffles attempt will be good enough to be served at CNY 2009 and for Valentines' Day!

Kueh Makmur

This is my first attempt at making Kueh Makmur. It was a fun but tiring experience due to the soft dough which was difficult to handle even after putting into the fridge. However, the end result is a melt-in-mouth texture which is delicious! Seems like all Chinese New Year cookies are difficult and time-consuming to make!

(Recipe adapted form Yochana's Cake Delights)
Dough Ingredients:

• 250g Butter
• 100g Ghee
• 50g Sugar
• 1 Egg
• 450g Plain Flour
• 1/4 tsp Baking Powder
• 1/2 tsp Salt

Filling Ingredients:

• 300g Roasted Groundnuts (Blend coarsely)
• 120g Castor Sugar
• 4-5 tbsp Creamy Peanut Butter (Original recipe called for 3 tbsp)

Method:

1. Cream butter, ghee and sugar till creamy. Add in egg
2. Add in flour, baking powder and salt and mix till a dough is formed. Rest in fridge for 30min (Although I've put it in for nearly 40min and still get a soft and difficult to handle dough)
3. Using a teaspoon size measuring spoon, scoop a tsp of dough and put a small ball of peanut filling into the flattened dough. Roll it into a oval shape and use a pincher to create leaf-like design
4. Bake in preheated oven at 150C for 20min
5. Remove and cool a little before sprinkling some Snow Powder on the cookies

Ginger Breadmen & Ginger Cookies

Saw a recipe publised on The Sunday Times Lifestyle section last weekend and had the urge to bake gingerbreadmen. This is my first try in making thes little men.

Ingredients:

• 4.5 cups Plain Flour


• 1 tsp Baking Soda


• 1.5 tsp Ground Ginger


• 1.5 tsp Ground Allspice


• 1 tsp Salt


• 28g Unsalted Butter (at room temp)


• 180g Dark Brown Sugar (i use Redman Brown Premium Sugar)


• 160g Honey


• 2 Eggs

Method:

• Preheat oven to 190C
• Sift flour, baking soda, ginger, allspice and salt into large mixing bowl. Leave aside
• Cream butter, brown sugar and honey with an electric mixer for 2 min on high speed until a smooth mixture forms
• Add in eggs gradually and mix for 2 min on high speed until a dough is formed.
• Remove dough and flatten dough into a disc, wrap in aluminium foil/ cellophane and freeze for 30min
• After freezing, roll dough to 4mm thickness and cut into shapes with cookie cutters
• Transfer cookies onto baking tray lined with parchment paper taking care to space apart
• Bake for between 8 - 10 min until firm
• Transfer cookies to wire rack to cool completely before decorating with Royal Icing (Recipe below)

Royal Icing Recipe

Ingredients:

• 90g Egg Whites


• 1/8 tsp Cream of Tartar


• 450g Icing Sugar, sifted

Method:

1. In a clean bowl, beat together Cream of Tartar and Egg Whites at high speed for a min until frothy


2. Add Icing Sugar in gradually and continue to mix on low speed for 1 - 2 min until icing holds a soft peak. Add colouring if desired

Choco-Matcha Yogurt Muffins

This is another variation of the Yogurt Muffins that I had made last weekend. This time, I've added cocoa powder to 1 portion of the batter and Matcha powder to the other portion. I like the soft texture of the muffins although it is a little too oily. Should I reduce the butter?

Cocoa Walnut Balls

Today has been a long rainy day and I've decided to stay at home and bake these little cocoa balls. However, they taste a bit bitter as I had burnt the walnuts whilst toasting in the oven. How careless of me!

Ingredients :

• 95g butter
• 35g icing sugar
• 110g cake flour
• 15g cocoa powder
• 50g walnut

Method :

1. Toast the chopped walnuts and leave aside to cool.
2. Cream butter and icing sugar till white and fluffy.
3. Fold in sifted flour and cocoa powder well.
4. Add in chopped walnuts and mixed well.
5. Wrap the soft dough onto an aluminium foil and put inside the fridge for 20 mins.
6. Round dough into tiny round balls
7. Bake on parchment paper at 190 degrees for 15 mins.

Books on Cakes, Muffins and Cookies!

Went to the library yesterday afternoon and got my hands on some great recipes books on cakes, muffins and cookies! I was totally impressed by the appetising pictures in the books and couldn't wait to try my hands at making them!