Danish Butter Cookies

I've been busy. Very busy. 

Ok, maybe just a tad bit lazy. 

My last post was in October last year!!  (*gasps in horror*)

What have I been up to?

Since my last post, there was the holiday in Bangkok (too much eating).

Then the work trip to Hong Kong (more food, and 'looting' at Twins Co., Hong Kong's Phoon Huat equivalent). 

And then there was Christmas (more food), New Year (more food), Chinese New Year (more food). 

And then a week in Melbourne (omg, more food again!).  

Ok, I need to slow down (on food). Take it easy for a while and maybe detox a little. 

But then Alan of Travelling Foodies had to post his sinfully gorgeous photos of his perfect Danish Butter Cookies and throw my diet detox plan totally off course!

My first attempt at his recipe actually didn't turn out too well. The butter was not soft enough so I ended up with a really stiff batter that almost gave me a broken wrist trying to pipe the batter.

This time round, I let the butter soften sufficiently and it worked its magic! I didn't even use a mixer! Just some good old elbow grease :) 

Now, since I'm on my diet detox plan, I halved his recipe. But because I didn't want to have half an egg leftover, I took Alan's advice and replaced the half egg with 25g butter. It worked perfectly! Eggless cookies!!

DANISH BUTTER COOKIES

adapted from Travelling Foodies

125g butter, softened 

60g icing sugar 

165g flour 

1-2 tbs vanilla extract

Put all ingredients into a bowl. 

With a wooden spoon, stir everything together till well combined. 

Transfer to a cookie press (or cookie gun) and pipe onto baking tray. 

Bake at 190*C for 10 min. 

Remove from oven and let the cookies cool on the tray for a few minutes before transferring to a cooling rack. 

When cool, store in an airtight container.

How not to be tempted by this?

Thank you to Alan of Travelling Foodies, who tempted me with his gorgeous photos, shared this fabulous recipe, and patiently helped me troubleshoot when my first attempt at these cookies didn't turn out quite so well. 

 

* * * * * * *

Cornflake Cookies

Couldn't resist trying this recipe using only 1 egg white, since I had a spare egg white from a batch of pineapple tarts that I made.

At first, I thought that the cookies would not bind together and would just fall apart when you pick them up...  You see, after whisking the egg whites and adding in the cereal, the mixture was rather loose.  Thankfully, after its due time in the oven, the cookies firmed up nicely and held its shape. All you get is the crunchy goodness of your favourite cereal  :)

RECIPE for CORNFLAKE COOKIES:

1 egg white

1/3 cup sugar

1/4 tsp vanilla

dash of salt

1/4 cup raisins

1/2 cup rolled oats

1 cup of your favourite cereal (I used POST Great Grains Crunchy Pecans)

Beat egg white until stiff.

Stir in sugar, vanilla and salt. Beat for a few more seconds.

Combine raisins, oats and cereal.

Mix dry and wet ingredients.

Drop spoonfuls of the mixture onto your baking tray.

Bake at 170*C for 10 min or till lightly browned.

Peanut Flower Cookies (eggless)

So much for "no more cookies till next Christmas"!
It seems I can't run away from baking cookies for Chinese New Year too.  And instead of the usual rolled-up cookie balls, I decided that I'd make good use of my cookie press and make some pretty flower cookies instead. 


I'm submitting this to show my support for Aspiring Bakers #3: My Favourite CNY Cookie (Jan 2011) hosted by j3ss kitch3n.

EGGLESS PEANUT FLOWER COOKIES
Makes about 70-80 spritz cookies.
180g unsalted butter, softened
90g sugar (add more if you have a sweet tooth)
1 tbs vanilla
230g plain flour
1/4 tsp salt
100g peanuts, shelled and preferably roasted for a nuttier flavour

- Combine flour, salt and peanuts, and blitz till peanuts are finely ground.  (If you blitz the peanuts without the flour, you'll get peanut butter!)
- In your mixer, beat butter, sugar and vanilla until creamy.
- Gradually add peanut flour and mix till you get a smooth dough.
- Fill up your cookie press, leaving as little air pockets as possible.  Then insert your favourite design plate into your cookie press and press out the cookies onto a baking tray.
- Bake 190*C for 10-13 min until the edges become firm and golden.
- Remove from the oven and let cool on wire rack.

Pineapple Tarts - 1st attempt

I'm submitting this post to Aspiring Bakers #3: My Favorite CNY Cookie (Jan 2011).


And indeed my favourite CNY cookie is the humble Pineapple Tart.  I used to think that it was really difficult to make.  Maybe because of all the various p-tarts out there, I never really found one that quite compared to the one my cousin/aunt made every year.  I loved their buttery crumbly biscuit that would melt in the mouth, and the moist pineapple jam that had just the right amount of sweetness (no too sweet and dry like some awful supermarket brands).   

Initially, I hadn't planned on making pineapple tarts - because I was under the impression that it was difficult and time consuming.  But seeing so many bloggers share their experiences, and all their gorgeous pictures, I couldn't help but succumb to temptation. 


As I studied the recipes and methods, I realised the toughest part was the making of the pineapple jam from scratch.  Now that fairly good p-jam could be bought from the stores, the tough part was out of the way, and all I needed to do was to make the dough for the base.  Sounds easy enough for me :)

RECIPE FOR PINEAPPLE TARTS 
Makes about 50 tarts.

140g plain flour
10g cornflour
2 tbs icing sugar
1/8 tsp salt
90g butter, very cold
1 egg yolk
1 tbs cold water
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
About 200g pineapple paste/jam
Milk or diluted egg yolk for glazing


Throw all ingredients from flour to butter into a food processor. 
Blitz till the mixture resembles bread crumbs. Transfer to a mixing bowl.
Combine egg yolk, water and vanilla extract, and drizzle over the flour mixture.
With a spatula, gently fold and press the mixture into a ball. Do not overwork the dough and do not knead.  Chill the dough for 10-20 min till firm.

Roll out the dough evenly and cut out the tart base with a cookie cutter.
Glaze with milk or diluted egg yolk.
Then gently press balls of pineapple jam/paste in the centre of each tart.

Bake at 160*C for 15-20 min depending on the size of your tart.
It's done when the edges start to brown.
Let tarts cool on the baking sheet for about 2-3 min to let it firm up before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

So what is everyone baking this CNY??

Chocolate Chip Cookies

More christmas baking....

These choc chip cookies were made for my colleagues.  I also made 3 other flavours:
* double choc chip cookies
* raisin and white choc
* oatmeal raisin & coconut
but I was in such a rush that I didn't have time to take photos.

Recipe was adapted from Baking Library's Crunchy Choc Chip Cookies.  His recipe is a winner!

Shortbread Cookies

The last time I tried making cookies with cookie cutters, it turned out a disaster! And the whole batch ended up in the bin.

Well, that was quite a while ago. Time to give it another shot...

I love shortbread. So when I came across a recipe for shortbread cookies, it went straight to my TO BAKE list. This recipe is easy, although you'll need some patience as the dough needs to be chilled a short while to firm up before you can roll it out for cutting.

RECIPE:

130g flour

1/8 tsp salt

115g soft butter

30g icing sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

Beat butter, sugar and vanilla extract till smooth and creamy.

Add flour and salt till dough comes together. 

Flatten dough slightly and chill for about half hour or till firm enough to handle.

With a rolling pin, roll out dough till about 1/4" thick. Cut to shape with cookie cutters.

Place on baking sheet and chill for about 10 min.

Bake at 170*C for 8-10 min. 

Chocolate Art:

Melt some chocolate.

Pour into piping bag.

Snip off a tiny bit of the corner.

Have fun decorating your cookies!

Crisco Chocolate Chip Cookies

My husband thought I went mad when I bought 2 huge cans of 1.36kg butter-flavoured Crisco. But it was a really really good deal (50% off), and I didn't want to miss this offer...


So now with almost 3kg of shortening in the pantry, that Crisco cookie recipe was just calling out to me. 


Recipe (adapted from Crisco website):


165g butter-flavoured Crisco
170g brown sugar
2 tbs milk
1 tbs vanilla extract
1 egg
225g flour
1 tsp salt
3/4 tsp baking soda
100g milk chocolate chips
30g white chocolate chips
40g ground peanuts


1 - Beat Crisco, sugar, milk and vanilla till well combined.
2 - Add egg and mix well.
3 - Add flour, salt and baking soda will just combined.
4 - Stir in choc chips and nuts. Add more or less according to your preference. 
5 - Roll cookie dough into small balls and place on ungreased baking tray.
6 - Bake at 190 degC for 8-10 min for chewy cookies; 11-13 min for crispy cookies. If you're using a dark pan, reduce the temperature by 10-20 degC. 

Join me for tea?

Starry Starry Cookie Cutters

My new toy!
Always so excited when I pick something up to add to my baking collection.  Hopefully my (future) kids will enjoy baking just as much as I do, and inherit their mommy's vintage collection.

Introducing my starry starry cookie cutters....
A box of 6 cookie cutters for a grand price of $2.00!! It's amazing what you can find at Daiso sometimes =)

Almond Butter Cookies

These were made for Chinese New Year 2010. 


Ingredients:
225g butter
100g white sugar
20g icing sugar
1 egg
310g plain flour
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp almond extract


How it was done:
1 - Cream the butter and sugars till light and fluffy.
2 - Beat in the egg.  Then add the vanilla and almond extracts.
3 - Combine the flour and salt, then stir into the sugar mixture. 
4 - Chill the dough for at least 10 min till it firms up a little. 
5 - Transfer the dough to the cookie press and press out onto ungreased cookie pan.
6 - Bake at 180 deg C for 10 min, or till lightly golden at the edges. (200 deg C if using light coloured baking pans.)
7 - Remove and cool on wire racks.