Double Chocolate Chips Cookies

The sound of it already enticed me to bake. My children just love cookies. So I had to make this to please them. :) 
Recipe for Double Chocolate Chips Cookies, adapted from Victoria Bakes.
(Makes approx. 60pcs)

Ingredients:
150g Unsalted Butter
80g Caster sugar
30g Dark brown sugar
1 Egg
220g Plain flour
50g Corn flour
1 tsp Vanilla extract
1 tsp Baking soda
1/2 tsp Salt
100g Toasted walnuts, coarsely chopped
50g Chocolate Chips
30g Cocoa powder

Method:
1. Sieve flour, corn flour, coco powder & baking soda together. Set aside.
2. Cream butter with sugar and brown sugar until it is creamy.
3. Add in egg and mix till well combined.
4. Add in salt and vanilla extract.
5. Fold in the flours till it forms dough and mix in the chopped walnuts and chocolate chips.
6. Spoon and drop the dough onto the baking tray.
7. Baked at preheated oven of 180C for 18mins.
This post is linked to the event Little Thumbs Up (August 2015: Brown Sugar & Molasses) organised by Zoe of Bake for Happy Kids and Doreen of My Little Favourite DIY, and hosted by Jess from Bakericious.

Chewy Chocolate Chips & Walnut Cookies

This post is sponsored by Liv butter. Try Liv today!

After Christmas weekend, we brought our twins to Orchard Road for a walk. It has been a long time since we brought our children to Orchard Road. The street is known for being crowded, especially during weekends and for it's exquisite and expensive buys. While we were at Wisma, we saw this stall - Ben's Cookies, with its nice aroma cookies. Where did the "Famous Amos" gone to? As we past by a few times, my son finally said he wanted to eat the cookies. He said he couldn't stand the aroma anymore. 

I'll have to admit, the cookies were really nice. I had a piece of the Dark Chocolate and Nuts and it was really soft, chewy and chocky. I like it very much. I personally preferred chewy cookies to crunchy ones. So, after that one piece of cookie, it triggered my craving. I preferred to make themselves, therefore, starts my quest for a recipe. So on New Year's Day, I attempted this Chewy Chocolate Chips and Walnut Cookies. It was really simple to put them together. The cookies turned out to be pretty good. But there was still some missing element I felt. My hunt continues...


Recipe for Chewy Chocolate Chips & Walnut Cookies, adapted from Making Food with Love
(Makes approximately 20 3" cookies)

Ingredients:
192g Plain flour
113g LIV unsalted butter,softened
100g Soft brown sugar
75g castor sugar
1 egg
1/2 tsp Vanilla extract
1/2 tsp Baking soda
75g Chocolate chips
60g Walnut, coarsely chopped

Method:

1. Sift flour and baking soda into a bowl. Set aside.
2. Cream butter and sugar till lighter in colour.
3. Add egg and vanilla extract. Mix well.
4. Add in flour till well combined. Do not over mix.
5. Add in chocolate chips and nuts.
6. Scoop spoonfuls of dough onto lined baking tray.
7. Freeze the tray for approx 5 minutes to reduce spreading.
8. Bake in preheated oven at 190°C for 13-15 mins until surface is slightly brown.
9. Remove from oven and let it cool completely before serving.

Walnut Cake

This post is sponsored by Liv butter. Try Liv today!

Chinese New Year is just round the corner. I have started my planning for the cny goodies baking over the next two weeks. I thought Saturday was too early for the goodies, so I decided to bake some Walnut Cake for my sisters instead. I realised that most walnut cake included some chocolate chips. For this recipe, I think it will be good to reduce the chocolate chips as I found it too sweet.

Recipe for Walnut Cake, adapted from Alex Goh's "Creative Making of Cakes"
(Makes a 23cm cake, but I made it into three smaller pans)

Ingredients:
(A) 250g Liv Unsalted butter
20g Caster sugar
(B) 7 Egg yolks
(C) 7 Egg whites
140g Caster sugar
(D) 190g Plain flour
1/2tsp Baking powder
(E) 160g Chopped toasted walnuts
100g Chocolate chips (reduced further if you don't want it too sweet)

Method:

1. Cream (A) till light. Add (B) and continue to whip till light and smooth.
2. Whip the egg whites from (C) till foamy. Add sugar and continue to whip till stiff.
3. Mix the whipped (C) with the above batter till well blended.
4. Fold in sieved (D) and mix till well combined.
5. Add (E) and mix till well incorporated.
6. Pour the batter intot he greased and lined mould. Sprinkle some extra walnuts on top (if want).
7. Bake at 180C for 40mins (for smaller pans) or test until skewer come out clean.
8. Cool and serve.

Chocolate Chips Cheesecake

How time flies! It's already into December, the last month of the year. I've always like December period. It's a month full of celebrations and feasting. And the weather is usually cooling, which makes one less temperamental and more happy. December is also the month where three of my children celebrate their birthdays, starting from my eldest son.

Baking a birthday cake for my eldest son is not so difficult. Every year, it's Oreo cheesecake, or some sort of cheesecake. He likes cheesecakes. So this year, we celebrated his birthday earlier together with his maternal grandparents, aunties and cousins. I baked a Chocolate Chips Cheesecake for him and he like it.

Happy birthday to my beloved son! Hope you'll be matured and successful in your endeavours!

Recipe for Chocolate Chips Cheesecake, modified from "Fantastic Cheesecake" by Alex Goh.

(Makes a 8" square cake)

Ingredients:

Cake base

2 x 120g Horlicks Biscuits, crushed finely

15g Cocoa powder

40g LIV unsalted butter, room temperature

Filling

500g Cream cheese

100g Caster sugar

20g Plain flour

2 Whole eggs

1 tbsp Lemon juice

1 Lemon zest, grated (I omitted this)

200g Whipping cream

100g Chocolate chips

Topping

200g Dark Chocolate, 55%, chopped coarsely (or use buttons)

200g Whipping Cream

Method:

1. Prepare an 8" (minimum 3" high) cake ring. Place baking paper below and secure it with a string. Put it on a baking tray.
2. Cake base: Mix all the ingredients well together and press them onto the bottom of the cake ring. Refrigerate until ready to use.
3. Filling: Cream cheese, sugar and flour until light. Add eggs one by one and cream until smooth.
4. Add lemon juice and lemon zest and cream till well combined.
5. Add whipping cream and mix well.
6. Fold in the chocolate chips.
7. Pour the cheese filling onto the prepared biscuit base.
8. Bake in a preheated oven at 150C for 55mins, or until almost set at the centre and slightly browned on top.
9. When it's baked, leave the oven door ajar and let it cool completely (overnight).
10. Topping: Heat whipping cream in a saucepan over low heat. Keep stirring until almost boil.
11. Then pour it over the dark chocolate in a mixing bowl. Let it sit for 1 min.
12. Stir and mix well, ensure all chocolates are melted.
13. Pour the ganache on the cooled cheesecake. Refrigerate immediately (for at least 6 hours).
14. Remove the cake from the cake ring using a spatula. Smooth the sides, and serve.

Classic Chocolate Chips Cookies

This post is sponsored by Liv butter. Try Liv today!

I have always love to watch Anna Olson's baking show on Asian Food Channel (AFC). However, on AFC website, it's not easy to look for her recipes episode by episode. The better site is through Food Network, which are categorised accordingly. What I tried today was her Classic Chocolate Chips Cookies. It was really easy to make, without even having to use the mixer. I am always fazed by how she just used wooden spoon or whisk to do the creaming and whisking. Her cookies turned out to be very evenly round, whereas mine is truly a homemade version! Heehee...

Recipe for Classic Chocolate Chips Cookies, adapted from Anna Olson's Drop Cookies Series.
Makes approximately 53 one inch cookies

Ingredients:
1/2 cup (113g) Liv unsalted butter, at room temperature
5/8 cup packed Brown sugar
1 large Egg, at room temperature
1 tsp Vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups Plain flour
1 tbsp Cornstarch
1/2 tsp Baking soda
1/2 tsp Fine rock salt
1 1/2 cups Chocolate chips

Method:

1. Cream the butter with the brown sugar using a hand whisk until light. Beat in the egg and the vanilla.

2. In a separate bowl, sift the flour with the cornstarch, baking soda and salt. 
3. Add this to the butter mixture and stir until blended. Stir in the chocolate chips.

4. Using a teaspoon, scoop spoonfuls of dough, shape them into a ball (I wasn't able to get balls) and place onto a parchment lined baking tray. 
5. Chill the scooped cookies for at least an hour, or once chilled, the cookies can be frozen for baking later. (I left it in the chiller overnight).

6. Preheat the oven to 170C. 
7. Arrange the chilled scooped cookies onto parchment-lined baking trays, leaving 1 inch between the cookies. 
8. Bake for 15 minutes, until browned. Cool the cookies on the baking tray.
9. If baking cookie dough that has been frozen, arrange the frozen cookies on the baking tray and let them thaw for 20 minutes at room temperature before baking as above.


"This chocolate chip cookie dough has 2 secrets to success. The first is the addition of cornstarch, which holds in moisture to guarantee a soft-centred cookie. The second is to chill the cookies before baking – this ensures they all bake to the same size and don’t spread too much while baking."-Anna.
This recipe is a keeper. My children simply loves them!

Double Chocolate Chips Cookies

This post is sponsored by LIV butter.

Requested from my children again after I made these rich Double Chocolate Chips Cookies for their teachers.

Recipe for Double Chocolate Chips Cookies, modified from Joy of Baking
Makes approximately 50 thick 2.5" cookies

Ingredients:

230g LIV Unsalted butter, room temperature
180g Light brown sugar
2 Large eggs
1 1/2tsp Vanilla extract
260g Plain flour
60g Cocoa powder
1 tsp Baking powder
1/4 tsp Fine rock salt
500g Semi-sweet Chocolate Chips

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 170C. Line baking trays with baking papers.
2. In a large mixing bowl, beat the butter with sugar until light and fluffy.
3. Add in eggs, one by one, followed by vanilla extract and beat until incorporated.
4. Add in the sifted flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt in two batches. Mix till just incorporated.
5. Fold in the chocolate chips thoroughly.
6. Using a small ice cream scoop, place the batter on the prepared trays, spacing about 3cm apart.
7. Gently use your fingers to flatten the cookies slightly.
8. Bake for approximately 18-20 mins, or until the cookies are still soft in the centre but firm around the edges.
9. Remove from the oven and let the cookies cool on the baking sheet for about 5 mins before removing them to a wire rack to cool completely.

The Final Lap

This is the final lap that my eldest son will be going through. I'll be coaching and giving him all the support that he needs. Afterall, that was the reason why I had to work part-time just so that he gets the moral and physical support that he needs.

Therefore, I will not be putting up any blog post from now until after his PSLE "war". Once a while, I'll still take a peep at those wonderful bakes from those talented bloggers. I'll leave you with the bakes that I had done last month...

Till then,
happy baking,
happy school holidays
and happy mid-autumn festival!
And wishing all those taking PSLE, all the very very BEST!

Cookies Weekend

It was a cookie-baking weekend. It wasn't planned, just happened that the mood and the flow was just there! Well, I guess for cookies, you can still bake and keep it till Chinese New Year (CNY). Therefore, it wasn't considered too early too!

The cookies which I baked, weren't the usual recipes which I normally used. Why? Because I wanted to try new cookies and new recipes. Frankly, if you ask me, I'm not a great fan of cookies, except Subway's soft and chewy cookies. Even so, how many can you eat?

Anyway, back to my cookies baking spree. In one and half day, I baked four types of cookies - Peanut Cookies, Pineapple Tarts, Chocolate Chips Cookies and Rose Cookies.

Pineapple tarts were baked using a friend's recipe, which is not convenient for me to share the recipe. However, I do find that there are a lot of very good recipes which anyone can use. Like A Baker's Videoblog, The Little Teochew and from Kitchen Capers Forum and many more! The reason why I still stick to my current recipe is because it only has three ingredients and is able to create the melt-in-the-mouth taste. Also, I knew that many people who made pineapple tarts swear by their SCS salted butter, and so do I. I only use SCS salted butter for making pineapple tart pastry, if not, it won't be found in my chiller!

In order to expedite my baking process, I usually roll up the pineapple paste first and keep them in the fridge. I also made the pastry the day before and stored them in the fridge. So that when I'm ready to bake, I can just take them out from the fridge, mould them and baked. It really saved me a lot of time by doing so. The enclosed pineapple tarts which I made, consist of very little pineapple paste, and lots of pastry, just the way myself and my family members like it!

It was the first time I tried Peanut cookies. This was using Wendy's recipe. However, after mixing, my dough was very unmanageable. Therefore, it was very very difficult to mould. It took me more than 2 hours to mould and bake them! Gosh! I think it was my mis-calculation of the ingredients since I reduced the quatities. It was supposed to be "melt in the mouth", mine was crispy and crunchy (due to my kneading and kneading). However, the comments given was good too! At least my siblings like the fragrance of the peanut!

The first time I tried Bakertan's Chocolate chip cookies, I like it very much. I had wanted to try his recipe since then, but I didn't have the time to bake them. So this time, I decided to bake it as part of the CNY cookies. As I didn't want to wait for the dough to harden, I dropped the very very soft and creamy dough onto the tray immediately. There were two batches which I baked. For the first batch, I baked it immediately when the tray was full. For the second batch, I placed the tray into the chiller while waiting for the first batch to be baked.

The conclusion was, the batch which was baked from the chiller spreaded less. Nevertheless, they are equally good. My siblings loved this chocolate chip cookies. They said it tasted exactly like Famous Amos cookies sans the aroma! They were snacking on this cookies non-stop! I was glad they loved it too!

Finally, the very last cookies I baked was the Rose Cookies from Gina's blog. I recalled trying some rose cookies last year, which was really nice with melt-in-the-mouth texture. However, I knew this recipe wouldn't have that kind of texture. Since I still have my Rose Water and some roses, I decided to try this cookies.

I didn't follow the instructions completely. Instead of melting the butter, I creamed the butter with sugar instead. The dough was really easy to handle. I was able to mould it round nicely. Even though SRF was used, the shape didn't change much. It only become firmer after baking, with very little increase in size. The cookies were really fragrant, crispy and crunchy!

After trying out so many different cookie recipes, I had a feel of the various dough texture. Even though the texture were different, they all churned out fragrant crispy and crunchy cookies. Somehow, I enjoyed baking these cookies after I received positive feedback from my family.

Recipe for Rose Cookies, with slight modification from Taste of Time.
(Makes about 170 one-inch cookies)

Ingredients
250g Salted butter, room temp
400g Self Raising Flour, sift
150g Icing sugar, sift
4 tsp Rose water (I used 5 tsp, which I think can be reduced to 4)
10g Dried mini rose buds

Method
1. Remove leaves, stalks from rose buds, peel and separate rose petals.
2. Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
3. Add rose water, mix well.
4. Add in flour, followed by rose petals and mix till it forms a smooth dough.
5. Mould the dough into rounds place on a baking tray.
6. Bake in preheated oven 180C for 15 mins.
7. Remove to cool before storing.

I'm submitting this Rose Cookies to the Aspiring Bakers #3: My Favorite CNY Cookie (Jan 2011) hosted by Jess.

Double Cs

Double Cs stands for Chocolate Chips Chiffon. Okay, with a cake too! I was up early on Sunday morning and I decided to do a "quick" bake. I quickly pulled out my file on "First priority to bake" and drew out the recipe on Double Chocolate Chiffon Cake from Rei's blog.

I've always like chiffon cakes, and chocolates. So chocolate chips chiffon cake just sound too tempting for me not to try at all! So I quickly "whipped" up the ingredients and put to bake before I prepare myself for my workshop. The last time I baked this wasn't that successful.

Unfortunately, this time also wasn't too good. It was mainly due to my chocolate chips which were too thick. I must have threw them in too fast and too hard, they just stayed in the bottom of the pan, unlike Rei's! But nevertheless, the taste of the chocolate cake was really good! Maybe I can consider using this as a soft sponge cake...anyway, mine looked like one too!

Simple and Good

Ever since I've started on some "pro" baking, I've not baked those simple and good treats - muffins! Muffins are actually very simple, doesn't need a mixer, just use whisk or spatula. I wasn't bothered with muffins all these while because I wanted very much to use my Kenwood mixer! Since I've already gotten myself some good and expensive mixer, might as well make use of it right? Hahaa... That was when, muffins are long forgotten.

Thanks to Anna for sharing her muffin recipe with me, I thought I might as well go easy with baking on a weekday. I tried baking an almond and chocolate chip muffins. It was really easy, and it turned out to be very fragrant and yummy! I used to love muffins a lot, but have forsake it for cupcakes. Suddenly, I realised I've fallen in love with muffins again! It's just a simple and good treat to bake and eat!!

Double Choc Chip Almond Cookies

Feeling a bit "itchy" on my hands to bake this evening, I chose an easier recipe to "entertain" myself. Elyn's Double Chocolate Chip Almond Cookies seemed to fit what I was looking for. At least it's something that I don't really like, so that I don't have to eat them. I usually bake to give away. So this seemed to be it! In less than 45mins, all were done and completed! Didn't that just met my objective? ;)

Chocolate Bread Loaf

I wanted to bake Chocolate Chips bread loaf for my children. Ended up, it became like just Chocolate loaf! Guess I've forgotten about rolling up the chocolate chips will make it similar to the cheese earthquake loaf instead! This recipe was modified from Florence's Black Sesame loaf.

These were after the shaping.

Sprinkled some chocolate chips on it and roll it up like swiss roll.

Placed it in the loaf pan to proof further.

Cross section of the chocolate bread.

After cutting them, I put them into the container.

Recipe was extracted from 65C Black Seasame Loaf.
I added 3g bread improver, increase the tangzhong to 100g and replace sesame powder with cocoa powder. The bread wasn't sweet enough. Should have increase the sugar to about 60g.