Cherry Blossom Cookies

I was so attracted by this recipe from Kenneth Goh with the pretty looking flowers shapes. Since it did not require alot of ingredients with simple steps, I did it in no time. As I knew the quantity might not be enough for my 3 monsters at home, I had doubled up the ingredients (can make 60pcs). Another variation from Kenneth's recipe was he used hard candy while I replaced it with strawberry jam and it equally has the pretty effect that I wanted. 

I love the crunchy texture of the cookies which I have been looking for my flower butter cookies for so long. I am glad that I found this recipe and thanks to Kenneth for sharing another amazing recipe.

Ingredients 

180g plain flour
120g butter (at room temperature)
60g icing sugar
Strawberry Jam

Directions

1. Preheat oven at 160 Deg C.
2. Cream butter and icing sugar until light and fluffy. Add in the flour, stir until well mixed.
3. Transfer dough to a floured surface (the texture will be a little wet to handle, just dust with some flour). 
4. Roll the dough and dust the mould. Cut out the flower and fill the centre evenly with strawberry jam.
5. Place on baking tray to bake for about 10mins (Note : cookies do not need to be brown). 

Beer Alike Apple Juice Jelly

This was such an interesting experiment to make these Beer Alike Apple Juice Jelly. Thanks to my friend, Shirlyn who shared this video clip with me. However, the foam for my jelly did not manage to stay more than a few hours or overnight. Overall, it still a cooling desserts for everyone for a hot afternoon.

Ingredients 

500ml clear apple juice (at room temperature)
10g gelatin powder

Directions

1. Transfer 3 tbsp of apple juice into a large microwavable bowl. Then add gelatin powder and mix well. Cover and microwave for 30 secs and mix well again.
2. Add the rest of the apple juice, float the bottom of the bowl in ice water, mix slowly with a whisk for 6 mins: it is about the time the mixture reaches 18 deg C.
3. Remove the bowl from the ice water, then mix quickly for 15 seconds to make the foam.
4. Serve in glasses and cool in the fridge for an hour to set.

Nian Gao Puff

I missed baking (I was busy lately) and I was thinking of baking something with whatever ingredients that I had at home. Just when I saw the Nian Gao and the balance 3 sheets of puff pastry in my freezer, I quickly thought of making these puffs. In the past years, I used to wrap with poh piah skins and fried them but I felt baking these would be a much healthier choice. Glad that everyone loves these Nian Gao Puffs that were so easy to make.       

Ingredients 

3 sheets puff pastry
1 store-bought nian gao
1 egg yolk (for glazing)

Directions

1. Cut Nian Gao to the size of your preference.
2. Wrap the sides with puff pastry and seal with a fork.
3. Glaze them with egg yolk and bake at 160 deg C till golden brown.

Peach Butter Cake

I was craving for fruit cake and I decided to bake this Peach Butter Cake using the extra large fillers that I bought sometime back. In order for the peach not to sink too much, I dusted the base of the peach slices and gently placed on top of the batter. Well, it did turn out as I expected and tasted incredibly moist and yummy. My kids wanted a whole piece for their breakfast tomorrow and thus I will not have enough for my colleagues tomorrow. Guess will offer them next time.

Ingredients 

110g all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
125g salted butter room temp
80g sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 large eggs
2 Tbsp milk

Directions

1. Preheat oven at 180C. Sift the flour and baking powder, set aside.
2. Cream butter, vanilla extract and sugar till fluffy and pale (take about 4 mins using electric hand mixer).
3. Add in the eggs one at a time, cream until well combined before adding another one.
4. Add flour and milk, and mix to combine well. Fold in diced peach.
5. Transfer the batter into the paper fillers. Dust sliced peach base with some plain flour and lined on top of batter. 
6. Bake at a pre-heated oven at 180C for about 25 mins or until a cake tester inserted into the cake comes out clean.

Peanut Butter Cookies

I was attracted with this recipe using only 3 ingredients and so I wanted to give it a try. Indeed easy steps, however, I felt these cookies were too sweet for me (even though I lessened the amount of sugar and peanut butter). To note during baking, there would be quite an amount of oil coming out from the cookies. Do not over bake as the cookies will be very hard. Wonder how it will turn out with Nutella, will give it a try next time.

Ingredients 

1 cup sugar (approx. 225g)
1 cup peanut butter (approx 250g)
1 egg

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 175 deg C.
2. Prepare a baking tray by lining it with parchment paper.
3. Using electric mixer to mix the sugar, peanut butter and egg together until well combined.
4. Roll the dough into 1-inch balls and place on the prepared baking sheet.
5. Using the back of the fork, make a criss-cross pattern on each cookie.
6. Bake for 12 mins
7. Allow to cool on the baking sheet and for a minute or two before transferring to a wire rack.

Floral Butter Cookies

I love the floral cookies that I used to eat during Chinese New Year, so I decided to try out this recipe. I was curious as well if the piping nozzle (I bought from Bake King) really could pipe out such a pretty design and indeed it was perfect! Though I did not use SCS butter (I used Buttercup instead), I still received a strong buttery aroma that filled my whole kitchen. These floral cookies were slightly crunchy with a gentle melt-in-the-mouth texture which my hubby and kids commented nice. Hope these Floral Butter Cookies bring great joy & happiness to start the Year 2015.

Ingredients 

170g plain flour
20g custard flour
60g cornflour
125g butter (softened at room temperature)
70g icing suger
1 egg yolk
1 tsp vanilla essence
Red Cherries (diced)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 150 deg C. Line baking paper on baking tray. 
2. Sift plain flour, custard flour and cornflour in a large bowl. 
3. Using electric mixer, cream butter and icing sugar for about 5 mins until light and fluffy.
4. Add in egg yolk, vanilla essence and mix until combined.
5. Add in the flour and mix until you get a soft dough. Turn off the mixer.
6. Using the piping nozzle, pipe out the dough onto the tray and use 1 chopstick to cut off the dough from the nozzle.
7. Decorate with a piece of diced red cherries on top and press lightly.
8. Bake in preheated oven for 20-25 mins. The cookies should not be brown when its done. Cool completely on wire rack. Store in airtight container.