What a hectic start to Y2012 and the Year of the Dragon! So hectic that I've stopped visiting my blog for about 2 months. The Tiny Man has finally joined his sister in Primary school and I, am finally spared of the daily speeding-around-the-eastern-part-of-Singapore drives, executing the task of fetching the kids. Not complaining here, for I am thankful for the two full years of opportunities to improve on my driving skills. But now, it is time for a life less on the road.
Not visiting my verbal sanctuary does not equate a stagnation in cooking and baking. During the Nov-Dec school holidays, I still cooked (albeit lesser in frequency) and still make some efforts to create that something special on Fridays. However, I had lacked the will to complete the motion with clicking the shutter and posting those few creations here. I would readily blame it on the school holidays or the kids who drove me crazy with their noise, but honestly, the Mum had gotten lazy in the last two months of the year.
Well not totally lazy, if you consider the number of hours spent in spring-cleaning. The panic I felt when the number of days dwindled throughout December last year, increasing in momentum throughout January. There were so much to clean and so little time. "CNY this year comes so soon! Goodness! There's no time to prepare at all!" A very common comment I hear wherever I went in the last 3 weeks before CNY. Guess I wasn't the only one in panic-land.
Spring-cleaning is a strange phenomenon to me. For me, this term is never far away from the Chinese New Year. It meant cleaning those obscure nooks and crannies that I would have otherwise ignored throughout the rest of the year. It meant emptying cupboards, cabinets, closets and every other container to rid all old stuff in order to welcome the new. It meant an opportunity for me to throw away items that I kept, "in case I need them in the future"; but come the time for spring cleaning, I would know very well that these items will not be required for they had been sitting there for a full year, and some, for longer. Spring cleaning also meant that every washable item needs to be washed and every "wipe-able surface" to be wiped down. The curtains, the sofa, the dining tables and chairs, the bedsheets, cupboards, cabinets, closet, toilets, windows and window grills and the kitchen wall tiles. You name it, I've either washed it or wiped it down. It's not that I'm a total slob, ignoring the virtue of house-keeping for the rest of the year, only to find myself overwhelmed with an incredibly dirty house to spring clean. I cleaned and washed away merrily (well, as merry as I can manage when faced with such routine) throughout the whole year. But when the Chinese New Year draws near, there will be this urge to engage in relentless cleaning. Perhaps it's this saying that the Chinese have, 除旧迎新, rid the old to usher in the new. I believe in cleaning out the old and dirty, which I associate with bad luck, in order to provide room for the new and clean. Needless to say, I associate the latter with good luck. Irrational superstition, yes I know and believe me I do agree with this observation of my irrationality. Yet, I cannot help but staunchly spring-clean every year.
Speaking of the old, this is one old item that I had fond memories of and would be absolutely sad if it were to be thrown out.
It's my Mum's stove. I am not sure exactly how long she had been using this stove, but I guess at least 30 years is a pretty good gauge. That is right, this stove is at least 30 years old. Mum, like me (or perhaps it should be the other way) is a fanatic "cleaner". She cleans the house, diligently, daily and more staunchly than I can ever manage up to the point when the Chinese New Year approaches. If it had not been for her relentless cleaning, this stove would have been scrap metal ages ago.
This stove came with an oven large enough to roast a turkey, a compartment to place the familiar blue tanks of LPG to cook our Chinese stir-fries and some sort of heater/grill to warm our food, if we ever got adventurous enough to use it (but of course Mum never did).
The oven, powered by electricity, had seen countless batches of butter cookies, cashew nut cookies and pineapple tarts baked whenever the Chinese New Year approaches. I supposed Mum would have kept the tradition of baking some new year goodies alive had the fuse not blown. But it did during one of our baking sessions; that spelled the end of something that I looked forward to every year. Every year, I would imagine visiting Mum during the last few weeks before CNY and find ourselves busy over cutting out cashew nut cookies or painstakingly rolling out thin strips of dough to decorate our pineapple tarts. But I suppose neither of us have the time now to while away afternoons like we used to.
One of the reasons why I had started baking is the desire to relive the nostalgia of baking, those happy times I had with Mum in the kitchen, getting messy with flour and butter. Of course making butter cookies had been the first recipe I attempted. Mum's butter cookies are really simple to make. It only takes a little patience to rub in 250g of good quality butter into 500g of flour and 250g of icing sugar and bring it into a somewhat dry dough by adding an egg yolk. The only thing left to do is to cut into desired cookie shapes, glaze with egg yolk and bake them. I had made a couple of variations with Mum's butter cookies: cashew nuts, raisins, chocolate chips, hazel nuts. I thought all of them tasted pretty okay and one of my cousins sang praises of these mouthfuls.
Since the process of making cookies I had been exposed to is the rubbing-in method, imagine my skepticism when I came across a cashew nut butter cookie recipe that specifies beating the butter and sugar until light and fluffy using a mixer. For me, this method is only applied when I need to bake a butter cake. Of course I had to try it out, as part of the new year goodies baking line-up.
Not knowing what to expect, I experimented with a reduction of the original recipe. Beating the butter and caster sugar till light and fluffy was not difficult. I could manage that, and did it with hand held mixer (that's the only mixer I have anyway). It is this particular step that I was wary of: turn to low speed and gradually add in sifted flour. Coming to this step in the recipe, I had imagined flour spewing all over the my kitchen counter top, mimicking December snowfall in some faraway winter land. How do you beat in flour with a mixer whirling around,even though at low speed, without sending some (I hope not the whole lot) flying everywhere but not into the butter/sugar mixture? Wondering and worrying would not give me an answer, so I did just what the recipe said, beat them in. The truth is, it wasn't as messy as I imagined. Some flour still managed to escape from my mixing bowl, decorating the counter top with specks of white, but most of them stayed put.
Once all the flour and ground almond were mixed in, I let the soft dough rest for about 15 minutes in the fridge. The recipe did not specify this step but I did it anyway. Simply because the dough was far too soft, I should say the softness is not what I am accustomed to when baking cookies. I was pretty worried about rolling out such soft dough and cutting them into shapes, so I thought letting it rest in the fridge should firm it up a little, in the hope to make handling easier. Anyway, it did not really work. The initial first few rolls and cuts were okay, but with our weather, the butter started to soften again. It was quite messy that in the end, I decided to just pinch a teaspoon amount, roll it into a ball, flatten it slightly before popping on a cashew nut for decoration.
So how did this cookie taste? Buttery, like the butter cookies I am used to, with a bit of crunch which I had not expected as there was no bicarbonate of soda added (you see, I associate the crunchiness in cookies with bicarbonate of soda, which is a must in Mum's cookies). Keep these cookies in an airtight container for about 3-4 days (in other words, let it age) and it will taste better. Gave some of my experiment to Mum and she approved of this deviation from her method. Gave some to this cousin who is a fan of my rubbing-in method cookies, and he swooned. I think I had found a staple for my new year goodies must-bakes.
Cashew nut cookies
(adapted from "Famous Cuisine No.71", November-December 2011, Famous Cuisine Publisher Sdn Bhd)
Ingredients
250g butter
130g caster sugar
230g low protein flour (I used cake flour)
130g corn flour
55g ground cashew nuts (I used ground almonds)
1 egg yolk
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp vanilla essence (I used 1 tsp)
Glaze
Egg yolk
Cashew nuts for topping
Method
1. Sift low protein flour, corn flour and baking powder, set aside.
2. Cream butter and caster sugar until fluffy. Add in egg yolk and mix well.
3. Turn to low speed and gradually add in sifted flour. Add in vanilla essence and ground cashew nuts. Mix well to form soft dough. (I added the vanilla essence after the egg yolk.)
4. Roll out dough onto lightly floured surface to 7mm thick and cut into desired shapes and place space apart on a greased baking tray. (I did not bother with cutting into shapes, just rolled into a ball, flatten and decorate with cashew nuts. I also find that it is not necessary to grease the baking tray and the butter in the dough is enough to prevent sticking.)
5. Lightly brush cookies with egg yolk and add halved cashew nuts on as decoration.
6. Bake in preheated oven for 10-15 minutes over 180degC. Let it cool for 2 minutes before transferring into a container.
Notes:
- when removing the cookies after being cooled, tap the tray lightly on a flat surface to loosen the cookies. I am not sure but I guess this step may not be necessary if the baking trays are greased.
- it is not necessary to let the dough rest in the fridge. In my next attempt, I used the dough immediately after preparation.
- use a teaspoon as a measurement if you choose to just roll the dough into tiny balls. I scoop about half a teaspoon for each cookie, roll it into a ball and flatten it in the baking tray.
Speaking of the old, this is one old item that I had fond memories of and would be absolutely sad if it were to be thrown out.
One of the reasons why I had started baking is the desire to relive the nostalgia of baking, those happy times I had with Mum in the kitchen, getting messy with flour and butter. Of course making butter cookies had been the first recipe I attempted. Mum's butter cookies are really simple to make. It only takes a little patience to rub in 250g of good quality butter into 500g of flour and 250g of icing sugar and bring it into a somewhat dry dough by adding an egg yolk. The only thing left to do is to cut into desired cookie shapes, glaze with egg yolk and bake them. I had made a couple of variations with Mum's butter cookies: cashew nuts, raisins, chocolate chips, hazel nuts. I thought all of them tasted pretty okay and one of my cousins sang praises of these mouthfuls.
Since the process of making cookies I had been exposed to is the rubbing-in method, imagine my skepticism when I came across a cashew nut butter cookie recipe that specifies beating the butter and sugar until light and fluffy using a mixer. For me, this method is only applied when I need to bake a butter cake. Of course I had to try it out, as part of the new year goodies baking line-up.
Once all the flour and ground almond were mixed in, I let the soft dough rest for about 15 minutes in the fridge. The recipe did not specify this step but I did it anyway. Simply because the dough was far too soft, I should say the softness is not what I am accustomed to when baking cookies. I was pretty worried about rolling out such soft dough and cutting them into shapes, so I thought letting it rest in the fridge should firm it up a little, in the hope to make handling easier. Anyway, it did not really work. The initial first few rolls and cuts were okay, but with our weather, the butter started to soften again. It was quite messy that in the end, I decided to just pinch a teaspoon amount, roll it into a ball, flatten it slightly before popping on a cashew nut for decoration.
(adapted from "Famous Cuisine No.71", November-December 2011, Famous Cuisine Publisher Sdn Bhd)
250g butter
130g caster sugar
230g low protein flour (I used cake flour)
130g corn flour
55g ground cashew nuts (I used ground almonds)
1 egg yolk
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp vanilla essence (I used 1 tsp)
Glaze
Egg yolk
Cashew nuts for topping
Method
1. Sift low protein flour, corn flour and baking powder, set aside.
2. Cream butter and caster sugar until fluffy. Add in egg yolk and mix well.
3. Turn to low speed and gradually add in sifted flour. Add in vanilla essence and ground cashew nuts. Mix well to form soft dough. (I added the vanilla essence after the egg yolk.)
4. Roll out dough onto lightly floured surface to 7mm thick and cut into desired shapes and place space apart on a greased baking tray. (I did not bother with cutting into shapes, just rolled into a ball, flatten and decorate with cashew nuts. I also find that it is not necessary to grease the baking tray and the butter in the dough is enough to prevent sticking.)
5. Lightly brush cookies with egg yolk and add halved cashew nuts on as decoration.
6. Bake in preheated oven for 10-15 minutes over 180degC. Let it cool for 2 minutes before transferring into a container.
Notes:
- when removing the cookies after being cooled, tap the tray lightly on a flat surface to loosen the cookies. I am not sure but I guess this step may not be necessary if the baking trays are greased.
- it is not necessary to let the dough rest in the fridge. In my next attempt, I used the dough immediately after preparation.
- use a teaspoon as a measurement if you choose to just roll the dough into tiny balls. I scoop about half a teaspoon for each cookie, roll it into a ball and flatten it in the baking tray.
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