Chocolate Chip Cornflakes Cookies

I have decided to start this particular blog again.

It helps me to stay focus and hopefully improve my skills in many areas.

For 2013 Chinese New Year, I baked quite a fair bit.

Cornflake Cookies was one of those baked.

So I am going to share the recipe here.

What you need:

• 120g butter, cut into cubes at room temperature (I used salted butter)
• 50g icing sugar
• 2 egg yolks, lightly beaten
• 135g all purpose flour
• 30g corn flour
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 100g corn flakes
• 80g chocolate chips

What you do:

• Place corn flakes in a bag and crush them into smaller pieces.  Do not crush them too finely.  Set aside.
• Place butter in a mixing bowl and sift icing sugar over it.  
• Beat the butter and icing sugar till the mixture turns pale.
• Add in the eggs slowly as you continue to mix.  Mix till combine.
• Sift flour and corn flour over the mixture.
• Fold the mixture with a spatula until flour is combined.
• Add in cornflakes and chocolate chips.  Mix till combined.
• Arrange mini paper liners on baking tray.
• Using a spoon, spoon a lump into each cup. (I used a melon baller, so it comes out in a rough round shape)
• Bake in preheated oven at 170 degree celsius for 18 to 20 minutes.
• Remove from oven and transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely before storing in air tight containers.

I have adapted the recipe from Happy Home Baking.  

She used cranberry instead of chocolate chip.

I may just try that another time.

I also have another recipe with is dairy free.

If anyone is interested, please let me know.

Sponge Cake

You will need...

4 eggs

80g fine sugar

100g plain flour (sifted)

100g butter (melted)

What you do...

Preheat oven at 160 Degree Celsius.

Melt butter ( I put it in a bowl and then into a pot of simmering water)

Whisk eggs and sugar together till fluffy.

Fold in sifted flour into whisked mixture till flour is well incorporated.

Pour in melted butter (butter should still be warm) and mix well.

Pour into mould 3/4 full (the cake will rise a little during baking)

Bake in oven for 35 minutes.

Reduce temperature to 150 Degree Celsius and bake for 15 minutes.

(Baking time may vary with different oven so you may have to do a few tries to get it right.)

For the small mould...

I halved the ingredients and baked only for 15 minutes at 160 Degree Celsius.

Mini Cheesecakes

Was craving for cheesecakes recently and Superpig promised that he would buy me one from MacDonald's. However, it costs $3.80 for a miserable thin slice so I refuse to buy eat.



Hence, I decided to bake one myself. Then again how was I to finish the whole cake by myself? So I to bake them in cups just like cup cakes. Off I went to search for cheesecake recipes and I found mini cheesecakes.



Cheesecakes in cups!



Here's the recipe.

Ingredients:

30g graham cracker crumbs (I used digestive biscuits)
1 tablespoon white sugar
1 tablespoon margarine, melted (I used butter)

224g cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup white sugar
1 1/2 teaspoon lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon grated lemon zest
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 egg

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 165 degree Celsius (I used 160). Prepare muffin cups.
2. In a bowl, mix together the cracker, sugar and margarine with fork until combined. Measure a rounded tablespoon of the mixture into the bottom of the cup, pressing firmly. Bake in the preheated oven for 5 min. Then remove to cool. Keep the oven on.
3. Beat together cream cheese, sugar, lemon juice, lemon zest and vanilla extract till fluffy. Mix in the egg.
4. Pour the cream cheese mixture into cups, filling each until 3/4 full. Bake at 165 degree Celsius for 25 min. Cool completely and refrigerate until ready to serve.

Enjoy your mini cheesecakes... I did enjoyed mine.

Leave a comment to let me know how it turned out.

Pandan Lotus Paste with Almond Bits Snowskin Mooncakes

I have always love to eat snowskin mooncakes and had learnt to make it in my teenage years from a church member. However, I was not interested in cooking then so the recipe had long disappeared.






Here's what I had found from Quick & Easy Treats from Zu's Kitchen and had doubled it and also change a few things.





Ingredients:

150g glutinous fried rice (Kou Fein)

180g icing sugar

60g shortening

150g cold drinking water

1tsp condensed milk (I leave this out and it still taste quite good)

Pandan essence (since it is already green in colour, I do not need to have extra colouring)

Lotus Paste

Almond Bits

Salted egg yolks, steams on an oiled plate for 10-15 minutes



Method:

1. Sieve flour and icing sugar.

2. Add shortening and mix them till the texture is crumby.

3. Add water, condensed milk, essence and mix well until it forms a dough.

4. Leave the dough to set for about 20 minutes while you prepare the lotus paste.

5. Mix in the desired amount of almond bits to the lotus paste.

6. Roll the fillings into balls of about 20g, inclusive of yolk if you are using them. (I did not include yolks an since my moulds are small everything has to be down sized. The original recipe stated each ball to be 30g)

7. Roll the dough into balls of about 20g too.

8. Flatten the dough and wrap the filling in.

9. Press into mould.

10.Knock the mould to loosen the mooncake.



* To make it easier to loosen the mooncake from the mould, sprinkle rice flour in it.

** To make green tea ones, add in bake-able green tea powder instead of pandan essence. No colouring is needed as the powder is green.



Enjoy the process of making your own version of snowskin mooncakes.



Please also let me know how your moonies turn out by leaving your comments here.