Famous Amos Double Choc Chips Cookie

My big kids gave a BIG thumbs up for these irresistible yummy nutty chocolate fragrant double chocolate cookies ! They said really tasted like FA cookies !

As shared, I usually don't have the mood to bake cookies unless during festive seasons like Christmas, Chinese New Year etc. etc. And I rarely munch cookies like Danish butter cookies or chocolate chips cookies. But I was very fond to indulge those expensive imported assorted cookies from Marks & Spencer. There was one store in the heart-land mall and I'd waited and grabbed some of those good deals "clearance stock" with soon to be expired shelf live cookies. Since it had moved-out many years ago, I hardly travel to town to shop or buy these delicious cookies. My kids' generation don't really know about Marks & Spencer.  But they do remember that mom had bought them very delicious assorted cookies with attractive packaging ... many years ago. Of course, they know the Famous Amos cookies ! With many outlets easily spotted in most heart-land malls, big shopping malls etc. My kids love these cookies ... ha ha! but they couldn't afford and would just buy a small packet once in a blue moon when they have saved a little extra pocket money.

So when I asked "shall I bake some chocolate cookies, like Famous Amos kind?"
Instant reply: YES!!! But must really taste like FA, ok!

Special thanks to Esther & Victoria for sharing this wonderful chocolaty cookies.
Recipe source : adapted from Esther of Copycakekitchen and Victoria Bakes

Famous Amos Double Chocolate Chips Cookie
Ingredients:
Butter 150g, softened
Caster Sugar 110 g (I used 80g)
Brown Sugar 30g
Egg – 1
Flour 220g (all-purpose plan flour)
Cornflour 50g
Vanilla Essence 1 tsp
Baking Soda 1 tsp
Salt 1/2 tsp
Walnut 100g (I used 50g Walnut and 50g Macadamia nuts)
Chocolate Chips 50g
Cocoa Powder 30g

Method:
- Sieve flour, cornflour, cocoa powder & soda together. Set aside
- Cream butter with sugar and brown sugar until it is creamy
- Add in egg and mix till well combined
- Add in salt and essence vanilla
- Fold in the sieve flour till it forms dough and mix in the chopped walnuts and macadamia nuts and chocolate chips
- Spoon and drop the dough onto the lined baking pan

On cooling rack ... forgotten to count the
no. of pieces

- Baked at preheat oven at 180°C for 15-20 mins (mine baked at 170°C for 18 mins)

Think I've made about 65 - 70 pieces .... hee hee .. I don't have the habit to count... and besides, the 1st batch of freshly baked cookies on cooling rack were left with half quantity ... 'hijacked' by 2 naughty 'thieves' hee! hee!

Enjoy munching these cutie nutty FA double chocolate chips cookies ^-^!

This post is linked to the event - August 2014 Theme Flour - Little Thumbs Up organised by Bake for Happy Kids and My Little Favourite DIY, and hosted by Diana from the Domestic Goddess Wannabe

Walnut moontart 核桃酥月饼

Whenever during the mid Autumn Festive season 中秋节, tonnes of different types of mooncakes would be displayed colourfully in confectioneries, push carts in shopping malls etc. From the traditional flavour to unique flavour ... assortment of mooncakes that made you wanna buy or try all. To 'lure' their sales, assorted mooncakes were cut into small pieces as samplings for customers. I remembered when my kids were very young (probably around 5 - 7 years old then), they loved to sample those snowskin mooncakes 'non-stop' ... So much so that it made mom felt 'paiseh' embarrassed if don't "close some deals" to buy some ... hee hee! When they knew mom had made the purchase, they happily moved on, knowing that they could eat those mooncakes as soon when we reached home.

For me, I'm not too fancy in mooncakes even when I was a young kid ... I don't really like the sweet lotus or tau sar paste filling. Sometimes I would just scrap out the filling and eat the crust ... LOL.

As an adult, I particularly like walnut moontarts. My first love for walnut moontart was many many years ago when I purchased those cutie moontarts from Harbour City Restaurant located at PSA Building. But this restaurant had closed some years ago. But I do see walnut moontarts made by other confectioneries. As usual, I would get some for family and as gifts for relatives during the 'gift exchange'.

I chance upon this recipe and decided to use it for my first attempt on baked mooncakes ... also my love walnut moontarts. Recipe adapted from Angel of cookbakelove

Walnut moontart 核桃酥月饼
Ingredients: (Yield 25pcs)
With my notes and modification made in blue as I've cut down the quantity to make 12 pcs.

Dough
220g butter (salted) (110g)
50g Crisco shortening (I replaced with margarine 25g) 
50g icing sugar (25g)
½ tsp vanilla essence/extract
½ tsp ammonium bicarbonate (I omitted)
1 egg (half egg)
360g plain flour (180g)
25g custard Powder (10g)
½ tsp baking soda

Walnut for decoration.
Used some chopped big chunks of Macadamia nuts & Walnut for decoration.
1 egg yolk + 1 tsp water for glazing

Fillings
1kg Lotus Paste (I used 360g pure lotus paste)
200-250g Walnut (toasted and chopped)
(I omitted as need to reserve the walnuts for other bakes).

Method:
1) Cream sugar, shortening, butter, vanilla essence and ammonium together until slightly white (slow speed first then change to high speed).

2) Gradually add in egg.

3) Lastly add in sifted flour, custard powder and sodium bicarbonate to knead into a dough (do not mix too long). Leave dough in fridge overnight or for a few days (cover with cling wrap).

4) Divide fillings into about 40g each, (30g) roll into round ball.

5) Take out dough from fridge and divide into portions of 30g each.

6) Wrap fillings into dough and decorate with walnut. Apply egg wash and bake at 160ºC for 10 mins. Take it out and leave it for about 10 mins and apply egg wash again. Bake for another 15 mins.

The aroma of the buttery and lotus paste fragrance dominated the kitchen when I opened the oven door to take out the baked moontarts.  Smell very nice and I couldn't wait to taste the freshly baked moontarts .... the buttery flaky crust is what I'm after.

Simply satisfied ... with a cup of hot Chinese tea ^-^. My big kids liked these moontarts too ! Yeah ! Mom's feeling great too !
Here's an early well wishes to all my blogger pals and family :

Happy & Blessed Mid Autumn Festive Season

祝您和家人, 中秋佳节愉快!

I'm submitting this post to Best Recipes for Everyone August 2014
Event Theme: Mooncake hosted by Fion of
Xuanhom's mom

And

This post is linked to the event, Little Thumbs Up organised by Bake for Happy Kids and My Little Favourite DIY, and hosted by Diana from the Domestic Goddess Wannabe

Sticky Lemon Chicken (Gordon Ramsay)

Last weekend, my girl cooked like a star using Jamie Oliver's recipe and whipped up a hearty breakfast for the family ... this weekend, hee! hee ... her mom's turn to 'cook like a star' LOL ... using Gordon Ramsay’s recipe ... Sticky Lemon Chicken for our dinner.

While preparing the ingredients and double checking the recipe ... I was wondering why the thyme is measured in tablespoon (liquid? ).  But I've bought the fresh thyme. So I 'agak agak' and used some sprigs thyme.

Recipe adapted from Gordon Ramsay-Sticky Lemon Chicken
Serves:  4
Ingredients:
1 lb chicken leg about 8–10 pieces
(I used about 500g chicken wings)
Salt and pepper
4 tbsp olive oil
1 head garlic, each clove sliced in half
1 tablespoon thyme
2 tbsp dark soy sauce
3 tbsp honey
1 whole lemon, sliced
1/4 - 1/3 cup water
1/4 cup fresh parsley or 2 tablespoons dried parsley

Method:
1. In a large skillet pan, add the oil to med/high heat. Season the chicken well with salt and pepper. Add the chicken to the skillet and cook for about 5-6 minutes, turning each piece.
(I've season the chicken with salt,  pepper and few sprigs thyme)

2. Add the garlic cloves, soya sauce and honey to the pan, making sure to get all the chicken in the sauces. Continue to cook for 5 minutes.

3. Add the water and lay the slices of lemon on top of the chicken in the pan. Put a lid on the pan and continue to cook for about 10 - 15 minutes.

4. Season the chicken with thyme and parsley. Continue to cook until the chicken cooked through and no longer pink.
(The chicken wings were fully cooked at this stage, so I added the parsley and cooked about 1 minute ... dished out and served)

When the dining table was set, my girl asked 'need to scope out some steamed rice from the rice cooker?' ... Opps ! realised I didn't cook any rice ... So, these chicken wings looks oriental style?

Well, served with soup, some tomatoes and mini Romaine ... we enjoyed these sourish lemon honey sweet chicken wings and needless to say ... "it's finger licking good" Enjoy & Happy cooking !

I am submitting this post to 

Cook Like a Star (August 2014) : Gordon Ramsay

organised by

Zoe, Bake for Happy Kids,

Mich, Piece of Cake and

Yen, Baby Sumo of Eat Your Heart Out.

Mini Snowskin Mooncake

This is my first attempt in making non-bake snowskin mooncakes.
No mooncake mould to use ... never mind, I got jelly mould and cookie cutter 搞定!

My big kids like snowskin mooncakes ... especially the mini ones where my boy would just "pop it into" his mouth like popping popcorns! But they didn't like some unique flavour like champagne and chocolate snowskin mooncakes.  Funny right? They like anything chocolate ... except chocolate mooncake. Their favourite classic ones ... pandan, banana or strawberry snowskin with lotus paste.

I've actually wanted to use a recipe on mochi snowskin texture but I couldn't find wheat flour. {Every thing is all set except one thing 万事具备,只欠东风。。。哎呀}
Ok settled with a pack of snowskin premix for my first attempt.

Using Redman Snowskin Premix (with slight modification made in blue and halved the quantity). I find that the instructions printed on the packaging is not so detailed, hence adapted some steps from nus-icare

For Snowskin Dough
500g REDMAN Snowskin Pre-Mix (250g)
200ml iced water (100ml)
100g shortening (used margarine 40g)
Flavouring (optional)
Colouring (optional)

For Mooncake paste
1kg White Lotus paste/Lotus paste/Green tea lotus paste (I used pure lotus paste 500g)
50g melon seeds, lightly toasted (optional)

Directions
1. Pour in the Snowskin Pre-Mix into a large mixing bowl. Knead in shortening till an even mixture is formed and there are no more lumps.

2. Pour the iced water in bit by bit, continue kneading the mixture till it forms a dough that can be rolled into a soft ball.

3. Cover the mixing bowl with a wet cloth, making sure it does not touch the dough. Leave the dough aside to rest for 30-45 minutes in a cool, dry place, or place it in the fridge.

4. Meanwhile, if you're using the melon seeds, spread the lotus paste onto a clean plastic sheet. Spread the melon seeds on the paste and roll the paste up like a swiss roll. Spread the paste and roll it up again to make sure that the melon seeds are nicely "embedded" in the paste. (I didn't add melon seeds)

5. Divide the mooncake paste into 40 (20) portions of about 25g each. Knead each portion a little to form a ball.

6. Divide the rested dough into 40 (20) portions of about 20g each. Knead each portion a little to form a ball.

7. Flatten a snowskin dough on your palm to be a 2-inch circle. (I rolled it with small rolling pin) Place a ball of paste in the middle and slowly wrap it up using the snowskin dough to form a mooncake ball.

8. Lightly cover the mooncake ball with glutinous rice flour, before pushing it into the mould, making sure that the edges are pressed evenly into the mould.
(I followed Christine's recipes steps to cook glutinous flour :In a clean frying pan to cook 3 tablespoons of glutinous flour. Don’t use any oil or water. When you see some smoke and flour turns a bit yellow, it’s cooked).

9. Knock out the shaped mooncake from the mould by lightly knocking in all directions with one hand and using the other hand to catch the dislodged mooncake.
(I used heart shape jelly mould and flower shape cookie cutter to shape these snowskin mini mooncakes. Added 2 drops of food colouring to mix with 40g dough and made some pinkish petals & heart shapes. I yielded 18 pcs of mini snowskin mooncakes)

In the making ... quite fun

10. Immediately chill the mooncakes in an airtight container.

Okay 吗?
Do they like these homemade mini snowskin mooncakes?  Yes !

I'm submitting this post to Best Recipes for Everyone August 2014 Event Theme: Mooncake hosted by Fion of XuanHom's Mom.

Blueberry & Cinnamon Muffins

I used to bake muffins but this is the first time adapted a recipe that uses vegetable oil. After mixing all the ingredients as in recipe,  the batter is smooth but very running. Seeing the texture, the first thought crossed my mind 'these muffins would taste hard as "do not over-mix the batter" was what I've learnt in baking muffins'.  But these muffins turned out to be moist and soft.

Blueberry and Cinnamon Muffins
(Cakes and Bakes 500 Cookbook by Martha Day) with slight modification in blue
Makes 8
115g plain (all-purpose) flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
Pinch of salt
65g soft light brown sugar (I cut down to 50g)
1 egg
45ml vegetable oil
2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Fold in :
115g fresh or thawed frozen blueberries (80g)
20g pine nuts
I reduced the blueberries slightly and added some pine nuts

Method:
1) Preheat the oven to 180°C. Lightly grease 8 deep muffins cups.

2) Beat the first eight ingredients together until smooth.  (I used a whisk to mix them)
Fold in the blueberries & pine nuts.  Spoon into the muffins cups, filling them 3/4 full.

3) Bake for 25 mins, or until lightly coloured.  Leave in the cups for about 5 minutes then transfer to a rack to cool.

My boy could immediately tell the difference when he took his first bite. He commented "the texture is different from the usual muffins you've baked. But nice."

My girl was eager to taste the freshly baked muffins (hee hee... for supper).
Mom: I thought you don't like blueberries ..
Girl: okay ... okay I'll still eat them ... these muffins look good.

I like the fragrance of cinnamon .... and of course ... the juicy blueberries and a touch of crunchy nutty pine nuts. Simply great with any beverages. Enjoy ^-^!

Happy baking and have a great weekend !

This post is linked to the event, Little Thumbs Up organised by Bake for Happy Kids and My Little Favourite DIY, and hosted by Diana from the Domestic Goddess Wannabe

And

Cook-Your-Books #15 @ kitchen flavours

Baked Chicken Teriyaki Pasta

I used to make Chicken Teriyaki rice bowl. It's pretty easy and quick for the weeknight dinner without much preparation needed. With my 1st attempt on the fusion Jap-Western combination of Baked Japanese curry rice,  I've gained some confidence in trying out this Baked Chicken Teriyaki Pasta ... luckily it turned out well for this combination ^-^

Baked Chicken Teriyaki Pasta
Ingredients:
110g Penne pasta
2 tablespoons of cooking oil (I used Olive oil)
100g mixed vegetable (cabbage and french beans)
Some Shiitake mushroom
2 - 3 tablespoons Teriyaki sauce
Some water about 50 - 70ml
Half medium yellow onion
100g Chicken fillet sliced (marinated with the Teriyaki sauce - about 2 tablespoons for at least 30 minutes) <I prepared and marinated the meat, refrigerated overnight>
Some grated Cheddar cheese and grated Parmesan cheese

Some prepared ingredients

Method:
1) Boil the Penna pasta in a pot of boiling water for about 10 - 12 minutes (or refer to the cooking time stated on the packaging). Drain and set aside.

2) Wash and cut the Shiitake mushroom, mixed vegetable in bite sizes.

3) Diced the yellow onion.

4) Heat the frying pan with medium flame, add cooking oil. Sauté the onions. Add in the sliced chicken meat, pan fried 3 - 4 minutes (sides lightly browned). Do not add any sauce or water at this stage.

5) Pour in the mixed vegetable,  stir-fry about 3 minutes.  Add the Teriyaki sauce and water. Lastly add in the mushroom and stir-fry another 2 - 3 minutes. Off the flame.

6) Divide and place the pasta in the oven-proof baking dish.

7) Put the cooked chicken on top the pasta. Scoop some sauce onto it.

8) Sprinkle top with grated cheese.

Bake in preheated oven at 180 degC for about 12~15 mins or until the cheese turn golden brown.

*please adjust the ingredients and sauce to your preference and taste.

Pasta immersed with some
Teriyaki sauce

Think I've added too much sauce to it. I would have preferred a drier texture. But overall, I kinda find this baked pasta, tasted delicious, the saltiness is just right for me. Coupled with the cheesy and fragrance of the Teriyaki sauce ... yum!

After we had finished the meal, I realised that I've forgotten to sprinkle some sesame seeds and seaweed onto the baked pasta .... well, next time ^-^!

Bake-Along #66 : Theme - Baked Pasta



Linking this post for Bake-Along event linking direct to the hosts' post (Joyce, Lena or Zoe)

Steamed Bao包 and Siu Mai 烧卖

'Har Gow 虾饺, Siu Mai 烧卖, Char Siu Bao 叉 烧 包, Lo Mai Kai 糯米鸡' !!!

Those were the familiar Dim Sum names when the waitress pushed the trolley filled with freshly baked or steamed Dim Sums and announced (like rhyming) as she passed by every table. Customers would just stopped her and choose whatever they wanted from the trolley.   Those were my fond memories when I indulged Dim Sum feast in some Chinese restaurants in the late 80s. Occasionally we have Dim Sum too, but I could hardly find such a scene now.

At home, Mom's shouting for big kids "Dim Sum is ready, Har Gow, Siu Mai, Char Siu Bao, Lo Mai Kai! ... Opps ! sorry .. no Har Gow & Lo Mai Kai  ... next time."

So, what's our mini homemade Dim Sum feast for our weekend tea-break ?  Ta dah da! Steamed Colorful Siu Mai, Char Siu Bao & Chicken Bao ^-^!

Chicken Bao & Siu Mai

Fillings for :
A) Char Siu Bao 叉烧包 (qty: 8)
About 120g roasted char siu (bought from the roasted meat stall), chopped small pieces
* I used the sauce that comes with the char siu. If not using the ready provided char siu sauce from stall, you may use below suggestion to make your own sauce for the char siu filling.
1 tablespoon cooking oil
1 teaspoon sesame oil
1 small onion, dice
Sesame seeds

1 teaspoon sugar
1 tablespoon oyster sauce
1 teaspoon soy sauce

A2) 60 ml water
1 teaspoon cornflour - add a little water (1 tablespoon) to dissolve the cornflour in separate bowl.

Method:

1) Heat wok/pan with medium heat, pour cooking oil.

2) Pan fry onions till fragrant (about 1 - 2 mins), add in the char siu, tossing a little.

3) Pour in the char siu sauce and continue to cook for another 3 mins.

4) Add water, sesame oil and corn flour to thicken the sauce slightly, bring to a boil. A few quick stirring just before turning off the flame.

Sprinkle some sesame seed and set aside.

B) Chicken Bao 鸡肉包 (qty: 8)
120g chicken fillet,  diced finely
2 tablespoon vegetarian oyster sauce
1 teaspoon sugar
1 clove of garlic finely chopped
1 teaspoon freshly grated ginger
1 tablespoon cooking oil
1 teaspoon sesame oil

B2) 60 ml water
1 teaspoon cornflour - add a little water (1 tablespoon) to dissolve the cornflour in separate bowl.

Method:

1) Heat wok/pan with medium heat, pour cooking oil.

2) Pan fry ginger & garlic till fragrant (about 1 - 2 mins).

3) Add in the chicken meat, tossing a little.

4) Pour in the oyster sauce & sugar and continue to cook for another 5 mins.

5) Add water, sesame oil and corn flour to thicken the sauce slightly, bring to a boil. A few quick stirring just before turning off the flame.

Sprinkle some sesame seed & some spring onions if you like. Set aside {note: I had cooked the chicken filling the previous night and refrigerated it.}

As I'm making 2 types of different fillings, do adjust the quantity, ingredients and taste to your preference. 

I'm using the bao - dough recipe adapted from Rasamalaysia
Ingredients for dough :
8g instant dry yeast
160ml lukewarm water
½ tsp white vinegar or lemon juice (optional)
280g low-protein flour aka hong kong flour
100g wheat starch
90g icing sugar
30g shortening or vegetable oil (I used vegetable oil)
10g baking powder
10ml cold water

Method
Buns:
1. Sift together flours and icing sugar. Place sifted flour mixture in a large mixing bowl and make a well in the middle.
2. Fill well with lukewarm water, vinegar and yeast. Use a spatula, gently stir the water to dissolve the yeast then slowly bring together flour mixture.
3. Add in shortening or oil and knead for 10-15 minutes until soft dough is formed. It should be smooth on the surface.
4. Cover dough with damp cloth and let it rise for 30 minutes or until it is doubled in size. (I proofed my dough for 1 hour)
5. Dissolve baking powder in cold water, sprinkle over dough and knead until well combined. Divide dough into 16 equal portions and flatten with a rolling pin to make a 3” circle. (Note: the dough weighed 605g in total, each 37g). Then place a heap teaspoon of filling in the middle, wrap and pleat the dough to seal. Place it on a 1.5” square parchment paper, seal side up. Proof about 10 minutes before arranging the buns into steamer. 
6. Arrange buns into a steamer, leave about 1” gab in between buns. Spray water mist over buns (I didn't do this), and steam in a preheated steamer on high heat for 12 minutes. Remove buns from steamer and cool on rack to prevent soggy bottom.

As for the Siu Mai, I made a batch of small quantity ... about 12 pieces.

Fillings for Siu Mai烧卖

About 80g of minced lean pork
2 - 3 pieces water chestnut, peeled, washed and finely diced

3 - 4 pieces medium-sized prawns - shelled, devein, cleaned and diced.

Add seasoning :

Pinch of salt

1.5 teaspoon light soya sauce

1 teaspoon sugar

1 teaspoon sesame oil

1 teaspoon cornflour
1 teaspoon brandy

Dash of pepper

Combine and marinate the fillings, let stand for at least 1 hour in the fridge. 

A pack of siu mai wrap (I bought the round type).

Instead of wrapping the usual Siu Mai, I like to add some colours to it with some toppings.  

Colorful topping ingredients:

Finely chopped some red capsicum, mushroom, pumpkin and carrot. 

(Can use other variations like some chopped ham, colourful capsicums etc.)

Place 1 tablespoon level filling on each Siu Mai wrapper.  Close the wrapper by pinching in half, then into quarters (tuck in the sides), so forming 4 small cups on top. 

Fill the 'cups'  or 'loops' with small amount of the selected topping ingredients.

Place them in a steamer and steam about 8 - 10 minutes on high heat. Serve hot.

Note : to prevent the Siu Mai wrappers from sticking onto the steamer,  use lettuce as base or lightly grease the parchment paper with oil. 

Hee hee ... you could tell that
I need more practice in pleating the baos

Phew ! Sweat !  Done with all the steaming ! Now, I can sit down comfortably and enjoy my Dim Sums .... let's "yum cha" ^-^! 

Well, we couldn't finish all the baos ... kept a few in the fridge for next day's brekkie ! 

Have a great day!

I'm linking this post to Little Thumbs Up event and the theme for August 2014 is Flour

Hosted by Diana of  Domestic Goddess Wannabe

This event is organised by Zoe of Bake For Happy Kids
and Doreen of My Little Favourite DIY