Walnut Butter Cookies

It's baking time again!

Ingredients:

60g unsalted butter

120g plain flour

60g icing sugar

3 tsps beaten egg

Peeled whole walnuts

Method:

1. Place butter and flour into a mixing bowl, cut butter in the flour into small pieces. Rub butter with finger tips or dough blender into flour until mixture resemble fine breadcrumbs. Stir in icing sugar. Add in beaten egg to form a dough. Fold walnut into the dough.

2. Roll the dough into a sausage shape, then pat the sides flat to form a square long. Wrap the dough with plastic wrap and chill for 1-2 hours.

3. Remove the dough from the refreigerator and unwrap. Cut with a breadknife into 1/2cm thick slices. Place on a baking sheet lined properly with a piece of baking paper. Put into the preheated oven to bake at 180 celcius for 12-15 minutes or unitl golden brown. Transfer to a cooling rack.

Reminder: Air trapped in between dough and walnuts should best be squeezed out before baking or walnuts will easily fall down after baking.

Muffin

11.9.12 Tuesday

Yesterday I baked cheese cake for my hubby, today I made muffins for my two lil precious babies - Abby & Ian.

I used to help my mum make muffins years ago for sales..So, I digged out the recipe book and decided to make chocolate chip, walnut and almond muffins..here is the recipe:-

Ingredients

250g Planta margarine (can use butter also)

230g castor sugar

5 medium eggs

500g plain flour

2 tbsps baking powder

250ml milk

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 200 celcius. Line muffin trays with paper cases.

2. Cream Planta margarine and castor sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs gradually.

3. Fold in sifted plain flour and baking powder. Pour in milk and mix gently. (Note too much mixing will make the mixture tough). If you wish to have a peanut butter flavoured muffin, at this stage mix some Planta peanut butter as well.

4. Fill a piping bag with the mixture and pipe into prepared muffin trays. If desired, decorate with almod flakes, chocolate chips, raisins or desiccated coconut.

5. Alternatively, pipe mixture into one-third of the muffin cup, add 1 tsp of blueberry filling, kaya or jam as centre filling and pipe more mixture to fill about 80% if the cups.

6. Bake for about 15 to 20 minutes.

Make about 30 muffins.

As for me, I didn't use a piping bag..instead, I just used a spoon and fill the muffin cups..hope you like it.

Chocolate Chip Cheese Cake

10.9.12 Monday

All these while, hubby has been asking me to learn how to bake cheese cake..Being an obedient and lovey dovey wife, I surfed online on cheese cake recipe but I found the recipes kinda hard to follow..till I saw this recipe posted by my friend on her blog..seemed easy..so I decided to give it a try. (fyi, I am not a cheese cake lover)

Last Sunday, I went to the bakery shop to buy the ingredients needed..wow..cheese cake ingredients were not cheap at all mann..especially the cream cheese and the digestive biscuits..I think the cost of baking a cheese cake easily come to RM60++..well..what to do..hubby wanna eat..

So, today I spent my afternoon baking the cake..Since it's my first time, so I decided to follow 50% of the recipe in order not to waste the expensive ingredients should I fail! Hubby said the outer look of the cake looked promising..

Recipe:-
The base
175g McVities Digestive Biscuits (about 7-8pcs, depending on how thick you want the base to be)
80g Unsalted butter (if you find that the biscuits are too dry, then add more butter)
50g Castor sugar

1. Crush all the biscuits till it become almost like sand texture (crumbs) and mix it with the castor sugar.
2.  Melt the butter. Pour the butter into a tray together with biscuits crumbs. Mix it well.
3.  Compress it evenly on the base of the tray. Put in the fridge for at least 1hour or till it is hardened.
4.   Make some small holes all over the base using a fork (this is to ensure the cheese sticks to the base).

The Cheese content
500g cream cheese (I preferred Philadelphia brand)
1 cup of fresh yoghurt (natural)
280g (or 2/3 of a small tin) of sweetened condensed milk
Chocolate chips
8 teaspoon of gelatin powder, with 200ml water

1.  Let the cheese cool down to room temperature.
2. Pour the water into a small pot and heat up under low heat. Then, pour the gelatin powder into the pot and stir it thoroughly until melted. The end product is a very thick and sticky gelatin mixture. Set aside for use. 
***if you are using only 50% of the ingredients, then put 4 tsp of gelatin powder wtih 100ml water***
3. Using an electric hand mixer, blend the cheese well to make it soft.
4. Next pour in the sweetened condensed milk and mix it well. Then pour the yoghurt in as well. Blend it well and thoroughly.
5. Quickly pour the gelatin mixture into the earlier cheese content and then mix it well with a spatula.
6.  Then put in the chocolate chips. This time do not use the electric mixer, just use the spatula to evenly stir the chips with the cheese content.
7.  Finally, pour the final cheese content into the earlier prepared base tray. Decorate as desired.
8.  The cheese cake should remain in the fridge for at least 2 hours before consuming (taste better if overnight). Enjoy!

I'd have to commend my wife for a very good first attempt. =) Taste and look are good. =P

  

Overall, my first attempt of baking cheese cake was a success..gonna try chocolate cheese cake and other flavour of cheese cake next time..can't wait! Baking is FUN!