Cashew Nut Cookies II

Recipe adapted from Small Small Baker

(Recipe doubled and modified)

Ingredients:

220 g	Butter
90 g	Castor sugar
½	Vanilla bean
1	Egg
100 g	Grounded cashew nuts
380 g	Plain flour
40 g	Corn flour
1 tsp	Baking powder

Topping:

1	Egg yolk
100	Halved cashew nuts

Method:

1. Cream butter and sugar till pale and creamy.
2. Add in vanilla beans. Add in egg slowly. Beat until well-mixed.
3. Fold in grounded cashew nuts. Fold in sifted flours and baking powder gradually. Knead to form dough.
4. Roll the dough into 3/4 cm thickness. Cut the dough into crescent shapes (or any shape you like) and place them on the baking tray. Brush a layer of egg white on the cookies and top each cookie with one halved cashew nut. (Brushing egg white helps the cashew nut to stick to the cookie well.) Brush a layer of egg yolk on top of the cashew nuts for a nice golden brown color.
5. Bake at 180 degree C for about 15 minutes or till light golden brown.

Notes:

1.     The dough is very soft. I probably have to chill it for a while if I was to cut it into shape but I decided to make the cookies round this time.

2.     My cookies are 1 tsp in size.

3.     Did not apply a layer of egg white. I just press down the cashew nut onto the dough and apply the layer of egg yolk.

4.     I baked my cookies for about 20 minutes so they are more brown and crunchy. (My oven’s temperature are kind of off to begin with)

Weekend Nom

Stir-fried turnip cake.

Nutella swiss roll. Dry noodle (kwan lo mee) with char siu.

Weekly bread - red bean, strawbery jam, char siu, blueberry jam, Nutella, and hot dog.

The turnip cake (white radish).

Aspiring Bakers #3: My Favorite CNY Cookie - Pineapple Tarts

I'm submitting this to Aspiring Bakers #3: My Favorite CNY Cookie hosted by j3ss kitch3n. More information can be found here. Join in the fun! =D

Pineapple Rolls/Tarts

Pineapple filling's ingredients:

2	Pineapple (~1kg each)
40 g	Sugar (or to taste)
4	Cinnamon sticks
2	Star anise

Method:

1.    Peel the pineapples and cut out the black eyes. Cut the pineapples into pieces. (Remove core). Blend till fine.

2.    Pour blended pineapple into frying pan and cook for a while before adding sugar, cinnamon sticks, and star anise.

3.    Cook till it thickens and dry enough to handle. Set aside to cool.

4.    Once cool, shape the pineapple jam into small balls. (I made about 50 [1 tsp-size] balls)

The bottom right picture: Left (more bright yellow) are cooked for shorter time (wetter). The right one are more dry.

Notes:

1.    I put about 4 tsp of sugar when cooking the pineapple. The pineapples itself are very sweet and my family prefer less sweet and sour-ish jam. Do add more sugar (about ~100g).

2.    My jam were not coked till very dry – just enough to handle to form into balls.

3.    When forming the balls, wetting your hand helps.

4.    I made about 50 (1 tsp size balls) – too little for the amount of dough >.< Have to add more pineapple in the future.

Pastry recipe adapted from Fresh from the Oven. Changes made in red.

Ingredients:

375 g	All-purpose flour
2 tbsp	Cornstarch
1/4	Teaspoon salt
220 g	Unsalted butter (room temp)
50 30 g	Icing sugar
1/2	Vanilla bean
2	Egg yolks

1	Egg yolk, for egg wash

Method:

1.    Sieve all-purpose flour and corn flour. Set aside.

2.    Beat butter and icing sugar until it turns light in color and fluffy. Add in vanilla beans and egg yolks until well combined.

3.    Slowly beat in the flour mixture until just combined.

Assemble tart:

1.    Roll dough into small rounds.

2.    Flatten the dough and used it to cover the prepared pineapple jam. Shape it anyway you prefer.

3.    Brush with egg wash and baked in preheated oven at 180 degree C for 10-15 minutes or until lightly brown. 

Tried different patterns. Pillow, round, and pineapple.

Notes:

1.    My dough are ½ tbsp size.

2.    Mum loved it, especially the jam. But Dad mentioned that the pastry is too flaky, too "melt-in-the-mouth" for his taste. I believe it is due to the corn flour. Reduce the amount of corn flour if you prefer harder texture.

Rolled the left over dough into crushed corn flakes.

Argh! Half gone! Don't think it will last till CNY. D=

It was my first time making pineapple tarts and it was definitely a fun process and good experience! I really enjoyed it. =D (Except being attacked by hoards of mosquitoes. >.<)

Hope everyone had a fun time preparing for the festive season (or just baking in general).

What We Ate in Tokyo, Japan (2010)

Pictures of food we had when we visited Japan in 2010.

JAL in-flight meal:


Appetizer: Prosciutto, cheese sticks with pesto garlic dip.
Snacks: Senbei and dried fruits



Starter. We loved the shiraae (mashed tofu salad).



Dessert: Panna cotta. I even finished up Sis'.



Main course. Chicken for Sis. Fish for me.



When everyone was asleep. We were up and...eating.

Caffeine fix for me and tea for Sis
Coffee with jelly....very good.



Sakura Ebi tamagoyaki from Tsukiji market.

 


GIOTTO's Fruits Roll Cake and Summer...Honey....something...


Then we went to Izuei Honten that specialize in unagi (eel). I read about it from Paul's Travel Pics but did not had the chance to visit the restaurant when we went to Japan in 2009. I made sure we had time to go there this trip. >D

Fu Chuk Yi Mai (Barley with Beancurd Skin) Chiffon Cake

Cooked fu chuk yi mai (fu chuk = beancurd skin, yi mai = barley) last weekend. It is one of our favorite tong sui (sweet soup/custard dessert) and we like it really thick. Decided to use it to make chiffons since it is basically the same with soy milk.

Mmm mmm...Left it to cook over charcoal fire for hours till it's nice and thick.

Fu Chuk Yi Mai (Barley with Beancurd Skin) Chiffon Cake

Makes 2 10-cm chiffon cakes

  

Ingredients:

2	Egg yolks
10 g	Sugar
70 g	Fu chuk yi mai
15 ml	Oil
40 g	Plain flour
10 g	Corn flour
1/4 tsp	Baking powder

2	Egg whites
10 g	Sugar
1/8 tsp	Cream of tartar

Method:

1. In a bowl, whisk egg yolk with sugar until pale and fluffy. Add fu chuk yi mai and oil, mix well.
2. Add in sifted flour, corn flour, and baking powder. Mix until the batter is smooth.
3. In another clean bowl, beat the egg whites till frothy. Add in cream of tartar and beat till soft peaks.
4. Add in sugar gradually and beat till stiff peaks.
5. Gently fold in 1/3 of the egg whites into the egg yolks mixture. When combined, fold in 1/2 of the remaining egg whites. Repeat with the remaining egg whites.
6. Pour the batter into 2 10-cm chiffon tube pan. Tap the pan lightly to get rid of bubbles.
7. Bake in preheated oven at 170 degree C for 30-45 minutes or test with skewer.
8. Invert the cake and let it cool completely in pan. When cool, press it down!!! run a thin knife along the edges and unmold the cake.

Notes:

1. I used Splenda (artificial sweetener) – doesn’t affect the taste and texture of the chiffon cakes.
2. The fu chuk yi mai’s taste is not very strong (compared to my previous soy milk’s) but we love the bits of barley.
3. Saw the videos shared by Jess of j3ss kitch3n (thanks, Jess!) in this post and decided to try unmolding one of the chiffon cakes by pressing it down and it worked! o.O

Left: unmold by pressing. Right: knife...I guess I am more careless with knife. -stabs cake-