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.

Pineapple Tarts in 3 Designs

Pineapple tarts is one of my favourite Chinese New Year goodies. This was my first attempt at baking these. The initial few tarts were quite challenging, with me fumbling the tart cutters and the dough rather clumsily.

My pineapple jam was made from fresh pineapples. It was more liquid and less sweet, compared to the ready made ones.

I'll post the recipe the next time. It was from an old newspaper cutting 2 years ago.

Mini Chocolate Agar-Agar Cake

After a chance discovery of my shiraz chocolate layered cake (http://thebatterbaker.blogspot.com/2011/01/shiraz-chocolate-layered-cake.html), I decided to give it another go but this time using milk chocolate.

I made these two little cakes to thank two very sweet friends who helped to run some errands, despite their busy schedule.



Here's a closer shot of how the cake looked like.

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.

Cinnamon Rolls 2

Remember my earlier Cinnamon Rolls attempt (when I overbaked it, all thanks to Food Network Channel)?

Well, I decided to have another go. This time round, instead of spacing them out individually on a baking tray, I decided to cosy them up in a smaller tin.  Plus, I added a layer of Nutella for the filling.  Yumms!  No difference to the texture, except that if you prefer crustier cinnamon rolls, then go for the spaced out arrangement.

A flashback from the earlier batch:

Which do you prefer - spaced out or cosy rolls?

Shiraz Chocolate Layered Cake

This cake was a cake that was not meant to be what it was. It was supposed to be NEL's triple layered mousse cake, or rather double layered as I did not have white chocolate at home.
http://thebatterbaker.blogspot.com/2010/12/triple-chocolate-mousse-cake.html You can see that the two cakes did not have the slightest resemblance.

Well, I completely messed up the whipping cream step. Instead of whipping into a mousse, my whipping cream mixture became butter bits and milk. I made the big mistake of throwing the melted chocolate into the whipped cream when I should have folded it in gently.

As I needed the cake for a family member birthday and did not have time to make another one, I heat up my whipping cream mixture to dissolve the butter lumps. Then I added about 2 tablespoons of gelatine (soften with room temperature water) into the mixture. And preso! The mousse became chocolate agar agar after sitting in the fridge for a couple of hours. :) Tasted pretty good, I must say!

Raspberry Jam cake

Tried a new sponge cake recipe today. But wasn't too pleased with the texture. Turned out rather dry and dense. So I'm not posting the recipe; just photos. 

This was how the cake looked like before frosting:

The recipe was taken from this book by Susannah Blake. Anyone has this book too?  What's your experience with the recipes?