TBB: Chocolate Sweetheart Madeleines (P391)

This is a quick and easy recipe. Very easy to put together.  I didn't have mini madeleine pans so I used the normal size ones.  

I tried to weigh the batter into each cavity, but I realised that 16g is too little, so I increased and filled it to 3/4 full so I ended up with exactly 20 pieces.

Just out from oven! 

However, I'm a bit disappointed that they are 'humpless' which is the characteristic of madeleines.

Removed from pan and cooling... 

I dusted with some icing sugar and sandwich 2 madeleines with ganache instead of glazing it. 

The Chocolate Madeleines tasted like chocolate cake than madeleines...and no characteristic hump! 

In fact, it tasted more like whoopie pies and that is why I sandwich 2 madeleines with ganache.

It's a wonderful and easy recipe and the chocolate cake is moist and soft.  But to call it madeleines, I'm not sure about that... 

That said, I would still make it again anytime since they are easy to make, delicious and easy to eat too in bite size.   

TBB: Bourbon Pecan Balls

I made these at the same time I made Double Chocolate Oriolos earlier in May 2015. These are super easy to put together. If you are using store bought wafers, even easier!  I love the addition of Bourbon here. I'm not a drinker but I like addition of some alcohol in my baked goods. It gives that extra flavor. 

These are the Double Chocolate Oriolos cookies I baked earlier. 

They are so good on their own! I was actually pretty sad to have to blitz them all in the food processor.

Getting ready my Bourbon! :)  

Blitz the Oriolos.... and transfer it out to another bowl.

Blitz the pecan nuts, cocoa powder & icing sugar. 

Mix the cookie crumbs and pecan cocoa mixture together and stir with wooden spoon!

This is hard..took forever!! I got impatient and put the mixture into mixing bowl and mix with a paddle instead! 

Bourbon all mixed in and rest for a while. 

Roll them into balls..i used a tiny cookie scoop..probably 10g each instead of 20g and coat with sugar. 

Coating with sugar..again for 2 time before placing onto a container lined with kitchen paper towel (with packet of silica gel underneath)

All done and ready to rest in fridge overnight. :) 

These are so good that you can't stop eating...love the subtle bourbon flavor ..at the end notes. :)  

One container went to my daughter's office and everyone loved it. 

TBB: Pecan Praline Scheherazades (p 404)

I haven't been baking much lately... as I mentioned before everyone in my family is on less-sugar diet. So instead of baking almost everyday after work, I work out instead since I have no more excuses to say to my husband that I do not have enough time to exercise.   But that doesn't mean I am not eating sugar.. I'm pretty much a sugar addict, so it seems now I am eating more chocolates, candies in place. 

When I saw this candy recipe, I knew I had to make some to satisfy my sugar cravings...lol!

This is a rather simple recipe. I had some toasted walnuts so I used walnuts instead of pecans.

Making the Caramel... 

The caramel stuck to the grease foil. 

I think next time I'll just use parchment paper which works better.

Roll into rounds.. and left it to cool... and I went out shopping

After 1-1/2 hours later, I got home and found my caramel flattened to disk and partially melted... 

I had to re-roll into rounds and wrap with parchment paper and put in the fridge. 

I love caramel but what I don't like is they get stuck to my teeth! 

One of my tooth filling came off !  So I have to avoid eating them until I get my filling done at the dentist.  Sheezz..! 

TBB: The Dutch Pecan Sandies

Weather has been extremely hot lately, so when I read I had to roll the cookies, I did not feel like making them.  Plus I still have half a container of Mini Gateaux Breton baked 2 weeks ago (or was it 3 weeks ago?) that everyone got tired of eating it, including me.   However, when Marie suggested that I could bake it like refrigerated log cookies, I thought it was such a great idea and so much less hassle, so I changed my mind.  Making the clarified butter didn't deter me because I have a few tubs of these in the freezer...waiting for recipes like this.  I like to clarify a few blocks of butter at one go and then freeze them. But I didn't keep the milk solids though..I just threw them away.. argghhh.. I should have kept them!

The dough was easy to put together..but you need to press it hard to stay together.  

I added required cinnamon with the flour and when it came to the cinnamon for coating/topping, in my blur state, I add it into the sugar for the dough again! Nevermind I thought, probably just end up more cinnamony. 

Cut and dip in sugar and bake...

Fresh out of the oven - my whole kitchen smell delicious! 

Paired with morning coffee. 

These are very good cookies.  Just right amount of sweetness and spice (maybe a bit more in my case but is ok with me).  And now I know why these cookies are called Sandies, because the texture is very sandy...well, in a good way. :)  

TBB: Mini Gateaux Breton

(i spy my own reflection..)

These mini cookies are so easy to put together.  

Normally I will take the short cut method and use store bought almond meal, but this time I toasted the slice almonds and grind with sugar as recipe suggested.   

The dough is easy..but it's soft, so have to put in the fridge to harden. I put mine in the freezer. Because of our weather, anything from the fridge melts within 2 minutes. With these cookies, the harder the dough easier it is to press into the molds. I still kept to the 10g each (as per instruction) for each cavity. 

I used this mini nordicware pan. I don't have the right brioche pan size..actually I saw the right size but it was a Japanese brand selling for almost $7 per mini pan (expensive!) and they didn't have more than 12 pieces either. ..and you know I don't like to wait around too long near the oven! 

Baked as recommended at 160c for 16mins.  

They came out of the pan very easily..and I didn't need to grease the pan either.  But I find them a bit too pale and underdone. So I had to put back in oven to bake a bit longer.

For the 2nd tray, I baked at 170c for 20-22 mins and they turned golden brown (like in the book) - smell wonderful and tasted better too.  Imho I think have to bake till golden brown. Otherwise, the flavor is on the bland side..more like a sweet soft cake rather than almond cookie. 

Baked till golden brown (as below) and flavor is wonderful! 

Delicious and pretty too. :D  

TBB: Spritz Butter Cookies

I made these cookies early since I had left over glace cherries after I soaked the fruits to make Rose's fruitcake from HC. So many bottles..so you get the idea this is really my favorite fruitcake. :) 

These spritz cookies fairly easy..so just the usual creaming method..

Then I piped..and put half glace cherries on top.

And bake for 12mins.  

I really like how it is not as sweet and the sweetness comes from the glaced cherries. 

Not sure if I am imagining it or what, but these cookies creamed with granulated/caster sugar, somehow traps moisture.. my cookies turned soft even in air-tight container. I was expecting "Viennese Cookies or Danish Butter Cookies type of cookies - dry but yet still melt in mouth texture"...  But these spritz cookies tasted more like "soft rolled sugar cookies".. still taste good though, just not what I imagined it to be.  So I was thinking perhaps these cookies if made with icing sugar would be better?   

Anyway, I just have to remind myself when I eat the cookies that these are spritz butter cookies and not Vaniljekranse Danish butter cookies so I shouldn't expect them to be the same...  :)

Danish Cookie Recipe 

TBB: Hazelnut Praline Cookies

So far I have yet to come across hazelnuts with skin.. all the hazelnuts I see here are all blanched.. thus I just toasted the hazelnuts to bring out the flavor. Then make the praline..as you can see below.  

I pulsed in the food processor a lot of times, but this is the best I could do.. not really like the description as "powder".. if you think powder..you would expect something like very dry and powdery. This is not even close to powdery..  After I made double batch of dough because pointless for me to keep half of this powdery praline since I have no idea what to do with it...  

I used the tiniest cookie scoop to scoop out 10g. I had to work fast..cos the dough melts super fast! So I didn't have any time to take photos..it's like Scoop-Flatten-Scoop-Flatten.....no rest in between to take photos! 

Here are the cookies.. Like Marie said, burn fast in oven..so must check at 10mins.

Taste wise: Really crispy and I love the texture.  It's not so sweet which is also a plus point and has caramelized hazelnut flavor.  I would think these cookies will be even better if coated with melted chocolate. But I'm lazy to temper chocolate.. so maybe next time..lol! 

TBB: Cookie Strudel

One Word: Delicious!! 

TBB: Pepparkakor

I have no mood to bake lately. Partly due to being fatigue all the time. Also the Haze is back again and the air quality is quite bad. Everyday I wake up in the morning feeling ok, but towards the afternoon, my throats feel sore again...so sometimes sore throat and sometimes not. Not sure if I should take medication for or not..so I just keep drinking lots and lots of liquid..so much so I feel so bloated that I don't feel like eating anything either.

I was half-hearted making these cookies. Not sure if I wanted to make them..the steps seem so fussy...have to get a cardboard round etc...in local terms we call it 'laychay" (maybe it is a Malay word?). Very troublesome...but in the end I made the cookies anyway. Typical Singaporean...complain this and complain that...everything must complain, but still end up doing it anyway... lol! 

I used half molasses and half golden syrup because there is no Grandma light molasses anywhere or everywhere.  The dough is very ugly looking... I forced myself to take a photo of it.  I just anyhow wrap entire dough with cling wrap and chill it. Thereafter rolled into 3 mini logs quickly..as the dough was melting quickly..

I doubled up the Cayenne pepper to 1/4 tsp... I think maybe I put in 1 tsp of ground black pepper actually..I remembered I didn't reduce the black pepper...since my helper helped me grind more than the required amount, I just dump everything into the dough.  :)

Took out the dough logs from freezer and they melted quickly. I had to fight against the heat. As I was cutting it, the bottom part melted a bit and stuck to the cutting board..so some broke and I had to press it back...so you can see how out of shape my cookies are...  I sprinkled both raw sugar and pearl sugar. 

The cookies puffed up a bit when baking.. so they are pretty crisp and fluffy if cut thin. Those I cut slightly thicker, has a nice soft texture like gingerbread. I can't quite make up my mind which one I like better, the crisp ones or the softer ones.  Actually I like them both.  I also like the heat that hits me towards the end.. both the cayenne pepper notes and also the black pepper bits. :)  

Despite all my complain about how fussy to make and also how ugly the dough, cookies look etc.. these cookies tasted wonderfully delicious. So lesson learnt...do not judge the cookie by it's dough..er..look!  I would make it again..and the next time I make, I will not be complaining as much,...I think. LOL!

TBB: Woody's Black & White Brownies

I don't know why I have the impression that Woody's recipes tend to be rich and 'loud'-as in it gives an impact on your first bite/taste?  So when I saw the recipe title before reading recipe, I thought to myself, this must be a super rich brownie...just like that lemon cake in HCB.   And I am right....lol!  This brownie is very good..but a little goes a long way. 

First I toasted the pecan nuts. But the 150g packet of pecan nuts after toasting became 78g??!  (Ok..i admit, I ate 1, but even with that 1 piece, it would have been 80g!)  So I added walnuts to make up for the difference in weight.

Then I made the white chocolate custard. 

I used Meiji white chocolate. 

Then mix in the batter & walnuts and into the prepared pan.

Opps!! I forgot to put in the cream cheese!! 

After I put in the oven, I saw a bowl of cream cheese sitting on the counter! Gosh!

I quickly took the pan out from oven and dump in the cream cheese and tried to incorporate into the batter with my knife & later fork. 

Out of the oven. Looks good..doesn't look like anything went wrong. lol!

Made the white chocolate buttercream. 

Taste very good despite being on the sweeter side..and I like how it looked like whipped cream.

Pour onto the brownie layer and put back in fridge 

Make the ganache and pour over. 

Oh..I added Bourbon.. that is what made it even better! lol!  

After the next day..all set. 

Cut into triangles. 

A little goes a long way..so a tiny triangle is all you need! 

For my tasting..  I didn't have any ice-cream so I just ate on its own. Very good though..despite being so rich.  This is for photography only.. I ate one triangular slice and the other one, my helper ate. 

Oh..that dish there..hahaha.. it's actually my soya sauce dish.  Can't remember where I got it from.. it's the one and only one I have in this design. Actually I think 90% of my dishes are free!  Either some hand me down from my mom or my late MIL or my SIL or some freebies.  That's why I don't have a nice proper set of dinner wares.  And I feel bad to throw away all the usable plates just to get a new set. Some of my plates and bowls, some older than my children.. like more than 25+ years! 

These are very good brownies. If I were to make it again, I will do away with the white chocolate layer. It looks pretty with white chocolate layer, but I like my brownie less sweet.  The bourbon ganache layer compliments the brownies very well. I love it.