Cookies : Chocolate Chip Ginger Nuts

Cookies : Chocolate Chip Ginger Nuts

Recipe source :  Delia Smith

One can never have too many cookies for Chinese New Year. No matter how much you baked the cookies are capable of performing the disappearing act all on its own! Well, you see, nobody will know how the cookie jar becomes empty!

Ingredients

50g cooking chocolate, chopped into little chunks
1 tsp ginger powder
110g self-raising flour
10g cocoa powder
50g butter, cut into cubes
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
40g granulated sugar
20g almond nibs
2 tbsp golden syrup

Method

1.  Preheat oven to 180 degree C.
2.  Sift self-raising flour, cocoa, ginger powder and bicarbonate of soda into a mixing bowl.
3.  Using your fingers, rub in the butter until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Stir in sugar, chopped chocolate chunks and almond nibs.
4.  Add in golden syrup and mix everything together with your hands.
5.  Divide mixture into 16 equal portions and roll each portion to form a ball.
6.  Flatten the ball slightly and place on greased baking tray and bake for 15 to 20 minutes. 
7.  Cool completely and store into air-tight jars.

I am linking this post to My Treasured Recipes #5 - Chinese New Year Goodies Jan/Feb 2015

Hosted by Miss B of Everybody Eats Well In Flanders 

and co-hosted by Charmaine of Mimi Bakery House

I am submitting this post to Little Thumbs Up

The theme for February 2015 - Cocoa 

Hosted by Grace of Life Can Be Simple 
Organised by Zoe of Bake For Happy Kids

Cocoa, host by Life can be simple

and Doreen of My Little Favourite DIY

Please mention Cook and Celebrate: CNY 2015 in your post and link back to us, Yen from Eat your heart out, Diana from Domestic Goddess Wannabe and Zoe from Bake for Happy Kids. - See more at: http://www.bakeforhappykids.com/#sthash.GPYJr7yj.dpuf

I am also linking this post to Cook and Celebrate CNY : 2015
Orgainsed by Yen of Eat Your Heart Out , Zoe of Bake For happy Kids and 
Diana of Domestic Goddess Wannabe
   

I am linking this to Best recipes for everyone Jan & Feb 2015 Event Theme : My homemade cookies by Fion  Xuan Hom's Mom and co-host by Victoria Baking Into The Ether

Cookies : Wheels Of Fortune

Cookies :  Wheels Of Fortune

Recipe source :  Cook's Nook - Amy Beh

My "wheels" turned out to look like pretty sunflowers instead! LOL.

Anyway, they look so bright and cheery, well enough to welcome the Chinese Spring Festival!

Ingredients

175g butter
100g castor sugar
3/4 tsp vanilla essence
1 egg
250g plain flour
1/4 tsp baking powder
1 tbsp cocoa powder
10g melted cooking chocolate
1/2 tsp instant coffee essence

Method

1.  Beat butter and sugar in a mixing bowl until light and creamy. Add in vanilla and egg. Beat until well combined.
2.  Sift flour and baking powder together. Add the sifted flour into the butter mixture. Mix into a soft dough. Divide into 2 portions.
3.  To one portion, add in cocoa powder, melted chocolate and coffee essence. Knead lightly until well combined.
4.  Use cookie cutter to cut into desired shapes. Place onto baking trays and bake at 180 degree C for about 20 minutes or until golden at the edges.

I am linking this post to My Treasured Recipes #5 - Chinese New Year Goodies Jan/Feb 2015

Hosted by Miss B of Everybody Eats Well In Flanders 

and co-hosted by Charmaine of Mimi Bakery House

I am submitting this post to Little Thumbs Up

The theme for February 2015 - Cocoa 

Hosted by Grace of Life Can Be Simple 
Organised by Zoe of Bake For Happy Kids

Cocoa, host by Life can be simple

and Doreen of My Little Favourite DIY

Please mention Cook and Celebrate: CNY 2015 in your post and link back to us, Yen from Eat your heart out, Diana from Domestic Goddess Wannabe and Zoe from Bake for Happy Kids. - See more at: http://www.bakeforhappykids.com/#sthash.GPYJr7yj.dpuf

I am also linking this post to Cook and Celebrate CNY : 2015
Orgainsed by Yen of Eat Your Heart Out , Zoe of Bake For happy Kids and 
Diana of Domestic Goddess Wannabe
  

Chocolate Cake 巧克力蛋糕

Chocolate Cake 巧克力蛋糕

Recipe source :  Minnie

I got this recipe from my friend, Minnie years before blogs were started. She apparently got her supplies of great recipes for cakes and cookies from her aunt's cookbooks. And her aunt bought her collection of cookbooks overseas. 

I have been making this chocolate cake ever since. Just a few easy steps to follow which is almost fuss-free baking and the ingredients required  are very basic. That's what I like best!


Do use good quality butter instead of margarine. It really makes a great difference.

This recipe is among the few trusted recipes that I hold dear to my heart. 

Simply scrumptious! 

Ingredients

10 eggs, separate the whites from the yolks
4 oz plain flour
4 oz self-raising flour
2 oz cocoa powder
12 oz castor sugar, divide into two portions
1 1/2 pieces butter ( 375g)

Method

1.  Sift the flour, self-raising flour and cocoa powder together.
2.  Use 6oz of the sugar and cream this with butter until light and creamy. Add egg yolks, one at a time and beat well after each addition. Remove.
3.  Whisk remainder half of sugar with egg whites until stiff.
4.  Fold in the two beaten mixture and add in the sifted flour. 
5.  Pour batter into a greased 9 inches square tin. 
6.  Bake in a preheated oven at 180 degree C for about 35 to 40 minutes. Insert a skewer into the cake. If it comes out clean, the cake is done.  

I am linking this to Little Thumbs Up

The theme for June 2014 is Butter

Hosted by  Spice Up My Kitchen

This event is organised by Zoe of Bake For Happy Kids 

and Doreen of My Little Favourite DIY

Orange Marbled Chiffon

Orange Marbled Chiffon

Recipe source :  Amy Beh

This marbled chiffon cake is light and fluffy. 

I like the citrus orange flavour combined with cocoa powder. It is very soft and nice.  

Ingredients

5 large eggs, separated
135g castor sugar
1/4 tsp cream of tartar
1/4 tsp salt
65g corn oil
1/2 tsp vanilla essence
1 tbsp freshly squeezed orange juice
1 tbsp passion fruit pulp                    ( I used orange pulp)
Grated rind of 1 orange
95g self-raising flour                           ) sifted together
20g cornflour                                       ) twice
1 1/2 tbsp cocoa powder                  )
1 1/2 tbsp water                                 ) Mix into a paste

Method

1.  Place egg whites with half of the castor sugar and cream of tartar and whisk until stiff and hold its shape.
2.  Whisk egg yolks, remaining sugar, salt, orange juice, vanilla essence and corn oil until light and thick.
3.  Add sifted flour  and continue to whisk until well combined and smooth.
4.  Gently fold egg white mixture in 3 -4 batches into the egg yolk mixture.
5.  When evenly blended scoop out one ladle-full of batter and add cocoa paste and mix until well blended.
6.  To the remaining chiffon mixture, add orange rind and pulp. Fold into mixture.
7.  Pour half of orange batter into an un-greased 22 cm spring form chiffon tube pan.
8.  Spoon half of cocoa batter over the orange batter. Top with remaining orange batter.
9.  Add the remaining cocoa batter. Use a satay skewer to swirl the cocoa batter to form a marble design.
10. Bake in pre-heated oven at 180 degree C for 25 minutes or until done.
11.  Invert pan and allow cake to cool completely before easing it away from the sides of the pan with palette knife.

Oops, the top got slightly burnt!

But still the marble design was pretty

I am linking this to Little Thumbs Up

The theme for April  2014 is Orange, 

hosted by Anncoo Journal

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

Cookies : Coconut Crisps 椰丝饼

Cookies :  Coconut Crisps 椰丝饼

Recipe source :  Y3K Magazine, Issue No. 40, 1/2 - 2008

Seems like all the cookies are disappearing before the Chinese New Year! I am getting frantic as there are so many more traditional types of cookies which I have bookmarked to try out yet I never seem to get round to making them and they just got postponed year after year! Sigh! Twenty four hours in a day is just not enough!

Now getting back to the assignment I have in mind today - coconut crisps. These are lovely. I just like the aroma of dessicated coconut baking in the oven. The fragrance of baking dessicated coconut so strongly permeating the air and wafting through my kitchen is a heavenly smell! Well, to me anyway! It took me back in time during my childhood as my siblings and I were anticipating sinking our teeth into the cookies baked by my late mother for the Chinese New Year. Gone were the days but happy memories remain.

Ingredients A

140g butter
120g Castor sugar

Ingredients B

3 egg yolks

Ingredients C

200g plain flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder

Ingredients D

60g dessicated coconut

Ingredients E

10g cocoa powder

Method

1.  Cream ingredients A for 1 minute, add beaten egg yolks. Beat until well blended.
2.  Fold in Ingredients C. Then add ingredients D and mix everything into a dough.
3.  Take out one third of the dough and add cocoa powder to it. Mix evenly to form a cocoa dough.
4.  Combine both dough together and mix well. Divide into 15g each and roll into rounds. Flatten the rounds slightly and place onto lined baking trays.
5.  Bake at preheated oven at 150 degree C for 15 to 20 minutes or until golden.
6.  Cool and store in air-tight containers.

I am submitting this post to Bake Along - Chinese New Year Cookies

hosted by Zoe of Bake For Happy Kids, Lena from Frozen Wings and Joyce of Kitchen Flavours

I am also linking this to Cook-Your-Books #8
Organised by Joyce of  Kitchen Flavours

Coconut Candy ( 1 ) 椰子糖

Coconut Candy ( 1 ) 椰子糖

Sweet, sweet confection

Coconut candy was among the first few food items that I learnt to make as a teenager. Back in the day of my youth, there weren't that many snacks or sweet treats around in small towns. I first ate this candy at my friend's Deepavali open-house. Later, my friend, Sim made this old-fashioned coconut candy and I learnt it from her. There seemed to be a slight variation from what I ate at the Deepavali open-house with that made by my friend, Sim. Making and eating this candy again brought back the nostalgia of bygone years. 

This sweet confection is laden with sugar but I think it is okay to indulge once in a while.

Ingredients

1 grated coconut, equivalent to about 2 cups tightly packed grated coconut
2 cups sugar
3/4 cup of evaporated milk
2 tbsp butter or margarine
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tbsp cocoa powder

Instructions

1.  Pour the grated coconut into a wok and stir-fry for about 3 minutes.
2.  Add in the butter, sugar, salt and evaporated milk.
3.  Add in the cocoa powder.
4.  Continue to stir and cook until it is almost dry and caramelised.
5.  Dish up into a greased tray.
6.  Use a spoon to distribute the coconut evenly across the tray. 
7.  Use a knife to cut into squares or rectangles but do not remove the pieces yet.
8.  Allow to cool down and hardened first before removing the squares or rectangles. 
9.  Store in a container and keep it in the refrigerator. 

Cookies: Chocolate Sprinkles 巧克力曲奇/朱古力曲奇

Cookies: Chocolate Sprinkles 巧克力曲奇/朱古力曲奇

 

These colourful cookies are popular at children's parties

Ingredients

100g butter
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup self-raising flour
1/2 cup cornflour
2 1/2 tbsp cocoa powder
1 small tub of chocolate rice mix
an egg white for brushing/glazing

Instructions

1.  Preheat oven at 180 degrees C.
2.  Beat butter and sugar until fluffy.
3.  Add all the various types of flour and cocoa powder together and mix evenly.
4.  Roll out dough to about 4 mm thick and use a cookie cutter to cut into the desired shape
5.  Brush the surface with egg white and sprinkle with chocolate rice mix
6.  Bake at 180 degrees C for 15 minutes

 A tub of chocolate rice mix

My collection of cookie cutters 

 

For the last batch of cookies,  I rolled up about 10g each of the dough and put them into tiny patty cases. 

Then I sprinkle some chocolate rice mix on top.  

If you are making the cookies like this, you've got to bake them for 20 minutes at 180 degrees centigrade

Store the cookies in an air-tight container

Cookies : Cocoa Cups With Almonds 可可杏仁曲奇

Cookies : Cocoa Cups With Almonds 可可杏仁曲奇

 

  Tasty treats for the coming Chinese New Year celebration

Ingredients

225g butter ( softened at room temperature )
280g castor sugar
240g plain flour
210g corn flour
2 eggs ( beaten )
1 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tbsp cocoa powder
50g almond slivers
small paper cups 

Instructions

 

1.  Preheat oven at 180 degrees C
2.  Sieve the plain flour, corn flour, cocoa powder and baking powder into a large mixing bowl
3.  Add castor sugar to the flour and mix well
4.  Rub in the softened butter and beaten eggs and mix everything together to form a soft dough
5.  Pinch about 10g of the dough and roll between your palms to form a small ball. Place the ball into the paper cup and decorate it with almond slivers.
6.  Continue rolling the remaining dough into small balls and place them into paper cups and decorate them with almonds slivers
7.  Place the filled paper cups onto a baking tray and bake at 180 degrees C for 20 - 25 minutes
8.  Depending on the size of your oven, you may have to bake them in batches

Crunchy and delicious