hazelnut biscuits

I got this recipe from last month Better Homes and Gardens magazine. The biscuit is not as "buttery" or "crumbly" as I thought it would be. It reminded me a bit like the homemade old-fashion style biscuits that my mum’s friend used to make. I do really like the taste and smell of this biscuit and it goes so well with a nice cup of coffee...

The original recipe calls for 3 teaspoon of dark rum, and to dip the end of the biscuit in melted chocolate. I have omitted these two ingredients from the recipe as I don't like rum and I really couldn't be bothered with the chocolate.

Hazelnut Biscuits
140g unsalted butter
160g sugar
4 large egg yolks
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
200g plain flour, sifted
2 tsp baking powder
50g hazelnut meal
60g whole hazelnuts

1. Preheat oven to 160C.
2. Cream butter and sugar until creamy.
3. Add yolks and vanilla and mix until combine.
4. Fold in flour, baking powder and hazelnut meal
5. Spoon mixture into piping bag fixed with large star-shaped nozzle.
6. Pipe 4-5cm lengths of mixture onto tray. Allow 4cm space between each biscuit.
7. Press 1 hazelnut on top of each biscuit.
8. Bake for 25mins or until golden.
9. Put biscuits on wire rack to cool.

Recipe adapted from: Better Homes and Gardens Magazine, July 2011

chocolate hazelnut cookies

Encouraged by the recent success of the double chocolate fairy cake and with some chocolate leftover, I decided to try my hands on the chocolate hazelnut cookies from the Peyton and Byrne British Baking cookbook. This is definitely my new most favourite cookbook.

The chocolate hazelnut cookies turned out great! Initially, I was suprised by how sticky and wet the mixture was. I thought I misread the recipe and haven't added enough flour. However all was well.

My only tip is to leave plenty of space around the cookies on the baking tray as they expand more than twice the size. I learned through the hard way when my first batch of 6 cookies becomes 1 big cookie.

Chocolate Hazelnut Cookies
100g whole hazelnut
140g unsalted butter
90g demerara sugar
80g caster sugar
1 egg, plus 1 egg yolk
170g plain flour
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 tsp bicarbonate of soda
200g dark chocolate chips

1. Prepheat oven to 180C
2. Toast hazelnuts in hot oven for 10 minutes. Remove skins and roughly chop the nuts. Set aside.
3. In a bowl, cream butter and sugars until creamy.
4. Add egg and then yolk. Mix well.
5. Sift flour, salt and bicarbonate of soda and gently mix into the butter mixture.
6. Stir in the dark chocolate chips.
7. Divide dough in half and shape each half into a log about 4cm thick. Slice the log into 6 pieces, each about 2cm thick and place these on the baking tray about 6cm apart.
8. Baked for 15-18 minutes until golden in colour but still soft in the centre.

Recipe from: Peyton and Byrne British Baking

double chocolate fairy cake

I baked these delicious double chocolate cupcakes for my colleague's birthday last week. And I have to say, the cupcakes smell and taste so amazing! However next time I make these cupcakes, I will reduce the amount of sugar for the chocolate fudge icing which I find a little too sweet.

Double Chocolate Fairy Cake
100g dark chocolate
110 unsalted butter
100g caster sugar
2 eggs
140g plain flour
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
100ml buttermilk

1. Preheat oven to 170C and line a 12 hole muffin tin with baking case.
2. Melt chocolate in a heatproof bowl over simmering water, and set aside.
3. In a bowl, cream butter and sugars together until light and fluffy.
4. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition.
5. Fold in melted chocolate.
6. Sift flour and bicarbonate of soda together and gently stir into the creamed butter. Mix until all the flour is well incorporated.
7. Add vanilla extract and buttermilk and mix until just incorporated.
8. Fill baking cases with mixture and bake for 15 minutes or until they are springy to touch.

Chocolate Fudge Icing
60g dark chocolate
1 tbsp cocoa powder
2 tbsp boiling water
90g unsalted butter
250g icing sugar
1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
Pinch of sea salt

1. Melt chocolate in a heatproof bowl over simmering water, and set aside.
2. Dissolve cocoa powder in boiling water then stir into melted chocolate.
3. In a bowl, cream butter until light and fluffy.
4. Add icing sugar, vanilla extract, salt and chocolate mixture to creamed butter. Mixing well and beat for another 2-3 minutes until creamy.
5. Pipe chocolate fudge icing on cake.

Recipe from: Peyton and Byrne British Baking

pizza

Making pizza has been on my to-do list for a while now. So I decided to give it a go during the weekend. I followed the pizza dough recipe from Bite Sized blog, which was adapted from Peter Reinhardt's Artisan Breads Every Day.

I was a little disappointed with my pizza. It came out hard, not crispy. It still taste quite good though. I think the problem might be that I used dry yeast instead of instant yeast, which I don't really know if there is a difference. And can you actually overwork or underwork  pizza dough?

Recipe from: Bite Sized

basic macarons with lemon buttercream

It has been a while since I make macarons. And for some reason, I have been thinking about macarons a lot lately. Not to eat them, but to make them. So et voila...

I used Tartellette's macaron recipe for the macaron shell as it is the only recipe that seems to work for me.

There are only 4 basic ingredients for the macaron shell- egg whites, caster sugar, almond meal and icing sugar. But making macarons is always such a challenge... for me anyway.

There are many blogs and sites with tips to making macarons. And since I am no macarons making expert, I will not go too much into it. The only tip I have for an increase change of a successful macaron making experience is to age the egg whites. I left my egg whites covered with cling wrap in the fridge for a least a week before leaving them out on the kitchen bench uncovered for a day.

Oh and the only other tip is if you don’t succeed, use a different recipe, and try and try and try and try again.

Macaron Shells (recipe by Tartette)
90 gram egg whites(use eggs whites that have been preferably left 3-5 days in the fridge)
30 gram caster sugar
200 gram icing sugar, sifted
110 gram almond meal, sifted

1. Combine icing sugar and almond meal. Set aside.
2. Beat egg whites until foamy. Gradually add caster sugar into egg whites and beat egg whites until stiff peaks form.
3. Fold shifted sugar and almond meal into egg whites until mixture is glossy and moves slowly when the bowl is tiled.
4. Spoon mixture into a piping bag fitted with pipping nozzle, and pipe rounds of 3 cm in diameter onto the baking tray.
5. Let macarons sit out for at least 2 hours or until a crust forms.
6. Preheat oven to 130C.
7. Place macaron shells into oven and bake for 10-12 minutes.

Lemon Buttercream (recipe from Macaron by Alison Thompson)
Juice and zest of 1 lemon
140 gram caster sugar
165 gram softened unsalted butter, chopped into small cubes
1 egg
3 egg yolks
2 tablespoons water

1. Combine lemon juice and zest, 50 gram sugar and 40 gram butter in small saucepan. Stir over low heat until sugar dissolved. Remove from heat and add whole egg. Mix well then return to low heat and stir continously until the mixture thickens. Transfer to a bowl. Press cling film over the surface of the mixture to prevent a skin from forming and refrigerate until cool.
2. Beat egg yolks on high speed until pale and creamy.
3. Place water and remaining 90 gram sugar in a small saucepan and bring to boil. Insert sugar thermometer and simmer until the syrup reaches 121C.
4. With the mixer on high speed, pour sugar syrup into creamed yolks. Beat until cool.
5. With the mixer on medium speed, add remaining 125 gram butter a cube at a time. Allow each piece of butter to mix in before adding the next.
6. Add cooled lemon mixture and beat for 2 minutes.

a tea party

dong do pork

Here's throwing my diet out the window. Anyway, another recipe from Poh's Kitchen cookbook. This is also the dish that makes me decide to buy her cookbook. It is a simple chinese dish that uses basic chinese ingredients. It takes about 2-3 hours cook but it doesn't require much attention, except of course the occasional turning of the meat and making sure the kitchen is not on fire. It's absolutely yummy.

Recipe from: Poh's Kitchen