Monday, February 4, 2008

Anyone Can Make Cookies (Really !!!)

I am not a pastier and I haven't been trained technically in any of that area, but I managed to follow the recipe and make batches of cookies. I reckon if I can do it, I am sure anyone of you can also make cookies!

Making cookies only requires measuring and mixing skills. When I say mixing, I meant the use of utensil and stir in anyway you like so that the dry and wet ingredients are mixed thoroughly. You don’t even have to use special techniques to fold in the flour like in making sponge cakes which otherwise can resulted in sunken cakes. Cookies, at least in my opinion, will never turn out bad whichever way you mix them.


You know cookies are ready when they are golden brown in colour.


Black and White Chocolate Chips Cereal Cookies

Black and White has a crunchier texture and a stronger nutty flavour. Definitely for those who love nuts and chocolates. Who says you can’t have both of them and eat it?

Ingredients A
90g of Butter
40g of Sugar
¼ Teaspoon of Vanilla Extract (Can use essence if cannot find)

Ingredients B
100g of Flour
50g of Cereal

Ingredients C *
50g Crushed Cornflakes
60g of Crushed Hazelnut
60g Chocolate Chips (Black and White)

Optional
1-2 Tablespoons of Milk (Depending on the dough)

Methods:

1. Place Group A in a mixing bowl. Cream the ingredients with an electronic mixer or wooden spoon till pale yellow.

2. Add in Ingredients B and C into the mixture. Mix well with a metal spoon.

3. If the mixture seems to be too dry, add in the milk and mix well. You want the mixture to be able to form into a ball holding the nuts and currents without falling apart. It cannot be too wet until the mixture cannot hold it shape in the baking tray.

4. Use either 2 metal teaspoons or tablespoons (depending what size you want) to scope and form the cookies dough into round-shaped heap onto the baking tray. The baking tray should be line with baking sheets to prevent sticks and easy removal.

5. Bake the cookies at 175 degrees Celsius for around 15-20 minutes. Check them at 15 mins mark and they should be ready when gold brown in colour. Hot cookies are soft and can easily break into pieces, so try not to move them. They will and should harden after they cool down.

6. Keep them in air-tight containers only after they cooled down.

* You can mix and match Ingredients C with things that you like, for example desserted coconut, chocolates chips, walnuts, almonds, cashew nuts etc.



Cookie mixture should look something like the above. Every scope should have a little of everything.

Teaspoon scoop (see above) will have smaller bite size cookies, while tablespoon scoop (see below) will have larger cookies. There is no right or wrong size, just how big you want your cookies to be !


Leave ample of space in between each cookie (like above) as the mixture will expand when heated. This is especially true if the cookie dough has bicarbonate of soda.


Little babies baking in the oven (see below). Yes, unlike baking cakes, you can open up and see (though not encourage to do often) if the cookies are ready or not. :)


Almond, Raisins and Coconut Oatmeal Cookies

Unlike Black and White, Almond Raisins has a fruitier flavour instead. For those who like their cookies softer, this recipe is for you. :)

Ingredients A
130g of Butter
50g of Sugar
½ Lemon/Orange Peel

Ingredients B
1 Egg

Ingredients C
90g of Flour
50g of Oatmeal
¼ teaspoon of baking soda

Ingredients D *
50g of Desserted Coconut
50g of Raisins
50g of Chopped Almonds

Methods:

1. Place Group A in a mixing bowl. Cream the ingredients with an electronic mixer or wooden spoon till pale yellow.

2. Add in the egg and beat till butter cream thickens.

3. Add in Ingredients C and D into the mixture. Mix well with a metal spoon.

4. Use either 2 metal teaspoons or tablespoons (depending what size you want) to scope and form the cookies dough into round-shaped heap onto the baking tray. The baking tray should be line with baking sheets to prevent sticks and easy removal.

5. Bake the cookies at 175 degrees Celsius for around 15-20 minutes. Check them at 15 mins mark and they should be ready when gold brown in colour. Hot cookies are soft and can easily break into pieces, so try not to move them. This cookie will be slightly soft in the centre, but the edges should harden after they cool down.

6. Keep them in air-tight containers only after they cooled down.

* You can mix and match Ingredients D with things that you like, for example chocolates chips, walnuts, almonds, cashew nuts etc.

Lastly.... A big tub full of cookies. Tuck in !!!

If I can do, You can do it too!!!

Anyone, yes ANYONE can make cookies . ;)

2 comments:

DCooks said...

I made some good chocolate chip cookies, but how do you get them to come out round?

Photosophize [ 影.像.物语 ] said...

Hi dcooks,

Sorry, I almost missed your question as I seldom read back my postings. Next time, please comment in the chatbox if you want my immediate reply. :)

I did not purposely shaped them round. In fact, I only scoop them onto the baking tray using metal spoon. I tided the dough a bit so that it looked round. I leave the rest of the work to god. They will usually come out round, though not perfect circle.

If you really want them to be in perfect circle, I guess you could do what Famous Amos does. I saw their staff rolled a bit of the dough into a ball and dent it a bit before placing them onto the tray. That, I assumed is that recipes of making cookies round.

I felt that homemade cookies should look rustic. What the point of having perfectly shaped homemade cookies that looked brought. I am sure if you make good cookies, you want people to tell that it is homemade. ;)