Jumbo Choc Chip Cookies

Dear All, Finally found a recipe for one of those jumbo chewie choc chip cookies - courtesy of Betty Crocker. Kids made it, or rather, quarrelled through the process but in the end... we had 1 1/2 dozen yummy cookies!

Chocolate chip cookies – Betty Crocker

¾ cup granulated sugar
3.4 cup packed brown sugar
1 cup butter (softened)
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 large egg
2 ¼ cup all purpose flour (if using self-raising flour, omit baking soda and salt)
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
1 cup coarsely chopped nuts (I used walnuts)
1 bag semisweet choc chips (2 cups)

heat oven to 375 deg/ 190 deg
beat sugars, vanilla and egg in large bowl with electric mixer (medium speed) or with spoon.
stir in flour, b soda and salt (dough will be stiff)
stir in nuts and chips
drop dough by rounded tablespoons about 2 in apart onto ungreased cooking sheet.
bake 8 – 10 mins or until light brown (centres will be soft). Cool 1 to 2 mins, remove from cookie sheet to wire race.

For jumbo choc chip cookie – drop dough by ¼ cupfuls about 3 in apart onto ungreased cookie sheet. Bake 12- 15 mins or until edges are set (centres will be soft) cool 1 – 2 mins, remove to wire rack.
Makes 1 ½ dozen 

ban kelapa

Yesterday made ketayap for Mira's class party, and had leftover coconut filling. So today made some buns - was quite surprised that they taste nice! Coconut filling was easy to do - dessicated coconut (well, mana ada fresh grated coconut), brown sugar, bit of water - mix all in pot and stir till sugar dissolves. I suppose if I had daun pandan it would taste nicer. Nice eaten for morning break with a cup of hot coffee... bila otak dah bengang... 

creme caramel

Tried and tested recipe (the one Ida posted). Verdict: easy to make, scrumptious to eat. 

Beef stew and Yorkshire pudding

Got inspired after watching Nigella's cooking show on tv last night. So we had beef stew (modified from her lamb stew) which had feta cheese and mint leaves sprinkled on it - lovely comfort food!!

recipe as below:

Brown meat in oil

Blend:

Celery (3 – 4 sticks)

Onion – 1 big

Garlic 4 cloves

Pour celery/onion mixture into the oil

Saute till soft

Take ½ out, put beef in, pour back the ½

Add bay leaves (about 3 – 4) + 1teaspoon oregano powder

Add carrot – chopped into ¼

2 cans chopped tomato

water

leave 2 hours

add some macaroni

serve with feta cheese / bay leaves (used mint)

Then had yorkshire pudding (as in for a sweet dessert rather than with roast beef). Ate it as soon as it came out of the oven - with cream and honey - hmmmmmmm yummmy. Oooh, dah kenyang....

recipe for Yorkshire pudding:

Heat oven 425
Put pan into oven (with about 3 mm of oil/fat in it)

4 eggs + 350 mls milk – blend and let rest for 15 min.
add flour 1 ½ cups
blend together

pour into hot pan
bake 20 – 25 min

eat when still hot (immediately out of oven!) with cream and honey

banana muffin

Found this very easy to do banana muffin recipe (betty crocker's). Imran mashed the bananas (of course when you have a 5yr old boy mash it, there was lots of imagination play going on about monsters thrashing the bananas..) and both Dina and he mixed it all up - ending up with a not so lumpy batter (read - over mixed). But - it's lovely when eaten hot!

1/3 cup milk
¼ cup vegetable oil
1 large egg
2 cups all purpose flour (if use self-raising f, omit b powder and salt)
½ cup packed brown sugar
2 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
1 cup mashed very ripe banana (2 medium)

heat oven to 400
grease bottoms only of 12 medium muffin cups or line with paper baking cups
beat milk, oil, egg
stir flour, sugar, b powder, salt all at once just until flour is moistened (batter will be lumpy)
fold in bananas
divide into cups
bake 20 to 25 minutes or till golden brown
when done, immediately remove from pan to wire rack 

Creme Caramel courtesy of Ida

For the custard:
3 large eggs
2 egg yolks
3 oz (75gms) caster sugar
Pinch of salt
500 ml fresh milk
1 can evaporated milk
1 ½ teaspoon vanilla essence
Butter for greasing (optional)
For the caramel:
100gms sugar

Method:

Preheat the oven to 160ºC. Pour about 1 inch of hot water into a roasting tin large enough to hold a custard mould. Place this tin in the oven.

Put the eggs and egg yolks into a bowl. Beat them lightly, but not to a froth. Add the sugar and salt and mix in. Heat the evaporated milk and fresh milk in a pot until it is very hot.

Slowly pour the hot milk into the bowl with the eggs, whisking vigorously, add the vanilla and mix it in.

Grease the custard mould with butter. Put the sugar for the caramel in a heavy based frying pan, spreading it over the bottom. Heat it over a medium heat. Do not stir. As the sugar melts and turns brown, tilt the pan around so that the sugar moves a little. When all the sugar has caramelized, pour it into the custard mould. Tilt the mould around so that the sides are coated. The sugar will harden. Strain the hot custard into the mould and place the mould in the roasting tin of water. Cook in the oven for 1 hour or 1 hour 10 minutes. Let the custard cool before putting it in the fridge. Invert the custard.

Mexican Chicken

Hi gals,

Tried this recipe today - it's actually very nice (kids sapu habis) and easy to make (jenis campak2 and bake). Got it from a british cookbook - it also required tarragon vinegar and white wine which I conveniently omitted.

We had it with mashed potatoes and pasta salad.
75 gram butter
4 chicken joints
4 small whole onions
25 gram flour
2 tablespoon tomato puree
300 mls chicken stock
4 cloves
1 clove garlic, crushed
1 green pepper, deseeded and sliced
salt and pepper
100 g seedless raisins
12 stoned green olives (optional)

lightly fry the chicken in the melted buter
transfer to a large ovenproof casserole.
Toss the onion in the butter and add to chicken
Remove pan from heat, blend in the flour and then the puree, gradually add stock
Stir to keep free from lumps
Replace over heat, stir till thickened
Pour over chicken
Add cloves, garlic, pepper slices
Season with salt and pepper, cover, cook in moderate oven (180 deg c) for 1 to 1 ½ hours
Add raisins and olive for the last 15 mins

Serves 4 

Pancakes

Finally found a recipe that gives fluffy and thick pancakes, courtesy of Betty Crocker's. Lovely saturday morning breakfast. Once again, recipe to follow.

Pancakes (betty crocker’s – thick and fluffy)

1 large egg

1 cup all-purpose flour (if using self-raising omit baking powder and salt)

¾ cup milk

1 tablespoon granulated or packed brown sugar

2 tablespoon vegetable oil

3 teaspoon baking powder

¼ teaspoon salt

butter, stick margarine or shortening

1. beat egg till fluffy, beat in remaining ingredients except butter just until smooth

2. for thinner pancakes stir in additional 1 to 2 tablespoon milk

3. heat griddle or skillet, grease if necessary

4. for each pancake, pour slightly less than ¼ cup batter, cook till bubbly on top, puffed and dry around edges, turn and cook other side until golden brown.

My version of the choc chippie

Quite ugly to look at and a bit too soft, but it's very yummy in the tum tum... ;o)

Maybe I'll put in more flour the next time around!

Shina's Cheesebuns

Decided to try making these cheese bun in a different bekas - so they expanded vertically since no space to go horizontally. Got this from mamafami cheesebun recipes. Had no grated cheese so slice cheese had to do (which, I discovered, is difficult to grate - it's lembiker than that solid block of cheese). Rating - thumbs up from the kids.With the breadmaker doing most of the work, I only had to put the mix into the breadpan, prepare the bekas, cut the dough into those ball shapes, and spread with milk/cheese. Baking time only 15 mins.

saturday nov 11th

Made Lala's cheesecake but it was only after we ate 3/4 of it that i remembered to take pics! Tonight we had a mat salleh dinner - cod, potatoes and beans. Plus i tried these buns i got from resipidiana.blogspot - superb.

Mixed fruit bun (resipidiana.blogspot.com)

A - mix all
350 gram bread flour
150 gram superfine flour (I used all bread flour)
100 gram sugar
1 teaspoon salt
30 gram milk powder
1 teaspoon bread improver (optional)
1 teaspoon bread softener (optional)
4 teaspoon dried yeast

B
Water
1 small egg – beat a bit
(mix till get 265 mls)

C
40 gram butter
40 gram shortening (or either one both)

add B to A and mix well
add C and knead till doesn’t stick to fingers
prove 30 – 40 mins
beat once
divide into 200 gram and add 50 grams of mixed fruit/raisin into each 200 gram dough;
make into balls

leave 30 – 40 mins
Roll dough thinly,
Cut strips with sharp knife dipped into flour onto one side
Roll from uncut side

Leave 30 mins
Brush with egg + fresh milk mixture
Oven – preheated 180 deg, for 20 mins
(if you want to see the process step by step, go the resipidiana site)

the smaller cut one was supposed to be red bean stollen, but had no red beans but used choc nutella - same princip of making it. 

hot cross buns

This morning i tried this. easy (with breakmaker which did all the uli uli work) and nice to eat when hot. bila sejuk tak sedap sangat.

recipe to follow later.

Hot cross buns (The bread book)

500 gram strong white flour (I used bread flour)

3 tablespoon butter

3 tablespoon caster sugar

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

¼ teaspoon ground allspice

¼ teaspoon grated nutmeg

1½ teaspoon fast=action dried yeast

1 egg , beaten

275 mls milk

125 raisins

for the crosses

125 gram strong white or plain flour

8 – 9 tablespoon water

to glaze

4 tablespoon milk

2 tablespoon caster sugar

with breadmaker – milk, egg, sugar, butter,flour, salt, spices, yeast set.

Tip onto lightly floured surface, knead well.

Cut into 12 even pieces, shape into balls. Put buns spaced well apart on to greased baking sheet.Cover loosely with oiled clingfilm, leave in warm place to rise 30 mins

Sift flour for crosses into small blow, gradually mix water to make smooth paste. Spoon onto piping bag – pipe crosses over buns, bake in preheated oven 200 deg c, 15 mins till golden brown.

Meanwhile put milk + sugar into small saucepan, heat gently till sugar dissolve, boil 2 – 3 mins till syrupy, brush hot glaze over buns.

Allow 5 mins, transfer onto wire rack to cool.

Lindek's Ayam Percik

Ingredients :
1.5 kg Chicken, cut into 6 pieces
100 ml Water
300 ml Thick coconut milk
50g Tamarind paste

Spices
6 Shallots
3 cloves Garlic
2cm Ginger piece
1 stalk Lemon grass
3 teaspoons Chili paste
1 teaspoon Cinnamon powder

Seasoning
2 teaspoons Salt or to taste
1/2 teaspoon Pepper
1/2 teaspoon Ground black pepper

Method :

Mix the tamarind paste with the 100 ml water and squeeze to obtain tamarind juice. Set aside.

Combine and ground the spice ingredients. Then add the tamarind juice and thick coconut milk.

Put the chicken pieces in a large mixing bowl.

Pour in the combined spices with coconut milk and tamarind juice before adding in the seasoning.

Mix well until the chicken is coated with the marinade.

Keep in the refrigerator for several hours or preferable overnight.

Remove and grill the marinated chicken pieces over a charcoal pit or bake in the oven until meat is cooked and slightly charred.

Ami's Lamb Cous Cous (as experimented by Lindek)

From North African cookbook (belum pernah try)

Sweet Lamb Cous Cous (Couscous T’Faya)
Serves 6-8

200g dried chickpeas
1kg lamb shoulder, on the bone, cut into 4 pieces, excess fat removed
½ tsp freshly ground ginger
1 stick cinnamon
¼ tsp saffron
1½ tsp freshly ground black pepper
1 small bunch fresh coriander
1 small bunch fresh flat-leaf parsley
8 Tbs olive oil
1kg large sweet onions
sea salt
125g dried raisins
1 Tbs clear honey
1 tsp ground cinnamon
500g pre-cooked cous cous

Soak chickpeas in plenty of water for 24 hours. Bring a large pan of water to the boil, add the chickpeas and boil hard for 10 minutes then drain.

Place the meat in the bottom of the couscoussier (I don’t know what a couscoussier is! Try and find it on the internet). Add water to the ¾ level, bring to the boil and skim the scum from the surface. Add the chickpeas, ginger, cinnamon, saffron, ½ tsp of the pepper, the herbs tied together in a bunch and 3 Tbs of the olive oil. Grate 1 onion and add that to the pan. Simmer actively for 1 ½ hours.

Meanwhile peel the remaining onions and slice into fine half moons. Heat the remaining olive oil in a heavy pan over a low flame, add the onions and leave to cook slowly for 1 hour, stirring occasionally.

When the meat and chickpeas have cooked for 1 ½ hours add the raisins and salt to the pot. Continue to simmer for another 30 minutes. Meanwhile steam the cous cous according to the instructions on the packet. Stir the honey, ground cinnamon and remaining black pepper into the caramelised onions and cook for a further 15 minutes.

Pile the cous cous onto a large plate and moisten with plenty of broth. Remove the meat from the broth, place on the cous cous and pile the onion and raisin mixture on top. Serve with additional broth.


Harissa Sauce

8 large dried red chilli peppers Water
6 cloves garlic, peeled 1 tsp coarse salt
2 tsp ground coriander seeds 1 tsp ground cumin seeds

Remove the seeds and tops from the chillies and leave to soak in just enough water to cover. Meanwhile crush the peeled garlic cloves with the salt. After 1 hour remove the chillies from the soaking liquid and process them with the garlic and salt to a slightly crunchy paste, adding just enough of the soaking water to achieve the right consistency. Stir in the spices and refrigerate. Serve with cous cous.

The Mat Salleh version (this is actually the one I use)

Moroccan Lamb (serves 8)

1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground ginger
1.5kg boneless shoulder of lamb, cut into chunky strips
2 Tbs olive oil
1 large onion, finely chopped
4 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
200g ready-to-eat dried apricots, halved
200g ready-to-eat stoned prunes, halved
700 ml hot lamb stock
6 tomatoes, roughly chopped
grated rind & juice of 1 lemon
4 Tbs roughly chopped coriander
1-2 tsp harissa
salt, black pepper

Preheat oven to 180C/fan oven 170C/Gas Mk 4. Mix the spices with salt & pepper, then rub them into the lamb. Heat the oil in a large flameproof casserole & cook the lamb for 2-3 minutes, stirring until beginning to brown.

Stir in the onion & garlic & cook for 1-2 minutes until just starting to soften. Stir in the apricots, prunes, hot stock & tomatoes, bring to the boil. Cover & transfer to the oven for 1 ½ - 2 hours until meat is tender. Serve with cous cous or saffron rice.


Harissa Sauce

Blend 6 seeded fresh chillies & 4 garlic cloves. Stir 3 Tbs olive oil (need just enough to make a paste). Add 2 tsp of white wine vinegar, 2 tsp of ground coriander & salt & pepper.

Kalau malas nak buat Harissa Sauce, beli kat Sainsbury. They have Harissa Sauce made by Belazu in their Special Selection, and it is pretty good. I always keep a small jar in the fridge for emergencies.

Note: kalau sesiapa dah try (or Lindek herself maybe) boleh lah tolong post a pix, ye? '-)

29th Ramadhan

First picture - entourage baru a few hours sampai, so chief cook (MIL) tak dibenarkan masak lagi. But she unpacked her made-in-KL sambal belacan, sambal tempoyak ikan bilis and karipaps! that victoria sponge cake is easy to make - 110 grams butter beat with 110 grams sugar, slowly add 2 eggs, then 110 grams flour. add esen. bake in 2 greased sandwich pan 190 deg for 20-25 mins. Wow- i dah hafal!!! i put strawberry jam in between and dust with icing sugar. can prepare in less than 1/2 hour if your butter dah lembut.


The 2nd picture was the result of me saying "okay Mak, hari ni Mak nak masak apa-apa, masaklah..." so the result is - tak muat meja!! Saya langsung tak masuk dapur :) The other 2 pictures were taken just this evening along Oxford Road. Deserted on a saturday afternoon. I love the autumn colours, so I thought I'd share it with you guys. OH, and it's confirmed we are raya-ing on monday, so tomorrow will be last buka puasa this Ramadhan.
Selamat Hari raya to you all!



 

Mee Jawa Malindo

We had mee jawa yesday. Everything the maid masak kat rumah di gelar "Malindo" coz she's Indon and usually masak Malaysian, esp Trg, dishes. Tapi since this is memang mee jawa, tak payah lah Malindo kot...

The pix doesn't look as good as it tasted. Guess I shoulda taken the pix of the mee without the kuah, that was more appetising looking. Don't ask me how to make the kuah, but there were prawns, chicken strips, boiled egg, and mee hoon for me, mee kuning for the rest of them. No togeh for me either. Then of course, the sprinkly green things (whatever they are, daun bawang mebe?) and bawang goreng and the little baby limau for squeezing.

I also took a pix of the goreng pisang we had but it didn't turn out well. Looked worse than the mee jawa pix, so I left it out, in the interest of not making everyone else sick ;o)

Anyone nak post gambar raya cookies they made? Kalau tak, nanti I'll post gambar the raya cookies I bought pulak! Ha ha ha!

My buka @ Chillis BSC

Since I don't cook, I thought I'd post pix of the food I had for buka.

Today we went to Chillis. I had the grilled salmon with garlic and herbs stuff on it, with rice (not so crazy about the rice coz it was berempah semacam) and steamed veggies. Very healthy food for once. Unfortunately we were too starved and I forgot to take a pix of that. But I didn't forget to take a pix of the dessert.

So for those of you yg rindu kat hi and mighty pie from Chillis... here's the pix! Twas yummy in the tummy...

23rd ramadhan

Today we had bubur with help-yourself-extras plus a little bit of chicken meat from yesterday's roast. Quite a refreshing change. Ikan bilis was the ones yg lindek bawak :)

Found recipe for that pasta in a '3-ingredient book' - tapi dia ngelat - they don't count pepper/salt/oil as ingredients. quite easy - prepare pasta in usual way. Heat 2/3 cup of olive (supposed to be garlic-infused oil so i hentam letak garlic sikit), diced pieces of capsicum (actually it's supposed to be red chili - none in the fridge so capsicum will do) , season with pepper/salt (i added black pepper) then mix it into the pasta. Nice when hot. 

22nd Ramadhan

Today being saturday and the fact that I've submitted my report yesterday, I went on a cooking spree. Roast chicken - it's been de-legged but nonetheless.... easy one - clean chicken, sapu with garam and pepper (go under the skin) - inside put in 1/2 lemon and 1/2 garlic - (seketul besar tu slice horizontally with skin on) , bake in preheated oven, on a rack on a pan around 180 - 200, put a piece of foil on top to cover. after about 30 - 45 mins depending on chicken size, remove foil, coat with honey, put under grill sekejap. We all kerjakan sampai tinggal tulang and it's really a no-fuss-chicken-roast.
AND.... guess what???? First time buat laksa kelantan. tapi tak cukup ulam - tak kisahlah. others can correct me if i'm wrong - rebus ikan (i found mackerel at the market today) with asam jawa, let cool. prepare kuah - blend bawang merah, lada hitam, halia, serai. boil santan in the air rebus ikan + asam jawa, add the blended stuff and ikan, stir, boil. garam, belacan, cili. Ulam can do with bunga kantan, kacang panjang etc.

And then - apple cake. scrumptious. Fun for the kids too - they helped in preparing. Took us less than 1/2 hour to prepare just in time for buka puasa, then had it for dessert.

Apple cake (Betty Crocker’s) 14/10/06 .

1 ½ cups sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
3 large eggs
2 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon vanilla
½ teaspoon salt
3 cups chopped tart apples (3 medium)
1 cup coarsely chopped nuts
Cream cheese frosting (pg 111) if desired

Heat oven to 350.grease bottom and sides of rectangular pans, 13x9x2 inches, or 2 round pans, 8x1 ½ or 9x1 ½ inches, with Shortening, lightly flour
beat sugar, oil, eggs – low speed 30 seconds or till blended
add remaining ingredients expect carrot, nuts n frosting – beat low speed 1 min.
stir in carrots and nuts
put in pan
bake rectangle 40 – 45 mins, rounds 30 – 35 mins
cool rectangles in pan on wire racks; cool rounds 10 mins, rmove to wire rack. Cool completely 1 hour
apply frosting if desired 

autumn colours

Leaves are starting to change colour now.. lovely.
Tried making puding jagung - 2 questions (1) is the surface supposed to be smooth or not - mine was like Mars surface (2) why jagung tak lekat - i had no corn in cream, so used corn in salt water. And - finally found recipe for chewy and thick choc chip cookies. i'll post it once i type it out.



Sheen, I hope you don't mind that I put the choc chip cookie recipe here... senang nak cari nanti. http://www.sunset.com/sunset/Premium/Food/1995/12-Dec/Cookies1295/ChocChip1295.html#1

Thick, Soft, and Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies
Cooking time: About 7 minutes per pan
Prep time: About 10 minutes
Makes: About 18 cookies1

1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (1/4 lb.) butter or margarine, at room temperature
3/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 large egg
1 package (6 oz.) or 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup chopped nuts (optional)

1. Mix flour, baking soda, and salt.
2. Beat butter, sugar, and vanilla with a mixer on medium speed until well blended. Beat in egg, mixing well. Add flour mixture, and beat slowly to incorporate, then beat to blend well. Stir in chocolate chips and nuts.
3. Drop batter in 2-tablespoon portions about 2 inches apart on baking sheets.
4. Bake in a 400° oven until edges of cookies are brown but an area about 1 inch wide in the center is still pale, 6 to 7 minutes. If using 2 pans in 1 oven, switch positions at half-time.
5. Let cookies cool on pan about 5 minutes, then transfer to racks with a spatula. Serve warm or cool. Store airtight up to 8 hours, or freeze for longer storage.

Per cookie: 160 cal., 46% (73 cal.) from fat; 1.7 g protein; 8.1 g fat (4.8 g sat.); 22 g carbo.; 124 mg sodium; 26 mg chol.

18th ramadhan

epal with rojak sauce - easy and very yummy (tak ada jambulah...). And possible the best dish - BUDU with ikan bakar! some vegetarian sandwiches from department lunch and finally, lepat pisang without the daun pisang!


 

16 and 17th Ramadhan

Gtote's marble pudding for sunday, lasagna today.