Tag: cookie

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Jam and Cheese Thumbprint Cookies

While going through my photos folder, I saw these pictures of fail attempt of thumbprint cookies with blackberry jam. But still, I will share the recipe in case some readers get a successful results of it. It is supposed to be one of those easy and fast to make cookies as no cookie cutter involved. And even with the ugly shapes, they still actually taste really good. I truly hope that you will not be discouraged by the terrible looking to give this recipe a try. The baked jam gives nice caramelised flavour and become slightly chewy in texture. I kind of know which mistakes have led to the fails, so read on to the end for tips!

Ingredients (source from here):
  • 150 grams of butter (50 grams of butter may be substituted with margarine)
  • 120 grams of castor sugar (I’ll reduce to 80 grams next time as this is too sweet)
  • 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
  • 1/2 teaspoon of salt
  • 1 egg yolk
  • 225 grams of flour
  • 20 grams of milk powder
  • 20 grams corn flour
  • 1/2 teaspoon of baking powder
  • your favorite jam
  • grated cheese
  • 1 egg white so the grated cheese will stick to the cookies

Mix butter, sugar, salt and vanilla extract until pale and fluffy. Then add in the egg yolk, mix again until well combined.

Add the flour and baking powder in four stages to the butter egg mixture – make sure to fold the mixture until well combined with a spatula after each stage of flour addition.

Make round-shaped cookies, dip top half of the cookie in egg white then grated cheese and place them in baking tray.

Then press the center of each cookie with your finger to create a dent. Fill in the dent with jam, make sure to not overfill these.

Bake for approximately 15 minutes at 175C preheated oven. It is done baking when the base of cookies start to harden and change to golden colours. At this stage the cookies might feel slightly under-baked, but once cooled to room temperature, they will be perfect.

 

 

Please pardon this horrendous looking cookies 😛

 

As promised, here were the mistakes I made on the attempt:

* I overfilled the cookies with jam, so it overflowed during baking and hence cracked cookies

* I had used jam with chunks of blackberry in it. This combined with overfilling has resulted in problem above. It will be best to use smooth-textured jam and fill in the cookie dents with piping bag.

* As usual, the amount of flour shown in recipe is guidance. Especially for cookies recipe, you may need to add or reduce the amount a little bit. My mistake was I should have reduced the flour a little bit so my cookie dough would not be too dry

* Do not dip the whole cookie in egg white, as they will be a mess to remove from the tray after baking. Therefore, only dip the top half and then cover with grated cheese

* Depends on type of jam you are using and your liking of sweetness, you may need to adjust the sugar amount for the cookie.

 

 

 

 

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Subway Choc Chip Cookies

One thing that always appeals to me at Subway (the sandwich/roll chain) is their cookies. They are chewy and soft in the center and such a comfort food, isn’t it? Surely it is not something you would indulge on daily basis if health and budget are of your concerns 🙂 Anyway, if you like the kind of chewy and soft textured cookies then continue read on – and maybe give it a try and let me know if you also love it as much as we do.

In the case you want to try make it at home, then at least it is much budget friendly than store bought, but try not to eat too many in a day, ok? I did a research and tried out few recipes, so far we like this one. I am not even sure where I got this recipe, I wrote this down on my recipe book years ago and forgot about it. Only recently I flipped the pages of my recipe book, noticed the recipe and decided to make it again. So, I am truly sorry to the owner of this recipe for not citing you – but thank you for sharing it!

  • 250 grams self-rising flour, sifted
  • 170 grams melted butter
  • 185 grams brown sugar
  • 110 grams white sugar (I used 80 grams, as milk choc chips are already quite sweet)
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 whole egg
  • 1 egg yolk
  • 2 cups of dark choc chips (I used milk choc chips as that was what I have at home at the time of baking)

Cream together melted butter, brown sugar and white sugar until well blended.

Beat in egg, egg yolk and vanilla extract until the batter is light and creamy.

Mix in sifted flour until just blended.

Lastly, stir in the choc chips.

Drop big tablespoons of the dough on lined baking trays.

Bake on 165C for 15-17 minutes.

Some tips:

– Use good quality of choc chips to get better taste cookies. Or could substitute the choc chips with M&Ms or Smarties, to your liking.

– Do not overbake the cookies to get that soft centered texture. I took out mine at 15 minutes and they were soft to touch. Once cooled to room temperature, they will harden up and the center will be chewy and soft.

– The brown sugar is mostly what creates that chewy soft texture, hence you cannot substitute this with white sugar. For the same reason, if you need to cut down on sweetness level, just reduce the white sugar amount only.

 

 

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Kastengel aka Cheese Stick Cookies

As mentioned on previous post of Putri Salju Cookies, kastengel is also another very popular cookie among many delicacies served during those festive seasons in Indonesia (or by Indonesians live overseas even). Whilst putri salju is mainly a sweet cookie, kastengel is the opposite that it is a savory cookie with strong cheese flavor. I always hesitate to attempt making kastengel cookies due to the lengthy process of cutting the dough, lay them one by one on the baking pan, brush each cookie with egg yolk and sprinkle more grated cheese on each one of them. But trust me this recipe is truly worth all that time and hard work 🙂

Again there are so many variations of this kastengel recipe, ranging from egg less to with egg yolk only, and different types of cheese used. Because cheese is the main ingredient for kastengel, I think it is best to use aged hard cheese as they have stronger flavor, such as Edam, aged cheddar, Gouda, or Parmesan cheese. Try to get the better quality cheese to showcase the taste once they are baked.

The recipe I used is copied from here. This results of this version is melt in your mouth texture due to the use of egg yolks, not the crunchy types of cookies. Here are the ingredients and methods:

  • 300 grams butter at room temperature
  • 200 grams aged cheese, grated (I used Edam cheese)
  • 400 grams flour
  • 2 tablespoons of milk powder
  • 2 egg yolks
  • For egg wash: 1 whisked egg yolk and grated cheddar cheese
kastengel edam2
I only made half of the recipe and got 1 full tray plus few extras 🙂

Mix the butter and egg yolk until all combined.

Add in grated Edam cheese and shifted flour with milk powder, combine them well with a spatula.

I rest my dough in the fridge, wrapped in cling wrap for about 30 minutes.

Flatten the dough to about 2 mm thickness and cut in the shapes of rectangular. Lay them on baking pan, lined with non stick baking paper. Brush the top with whisked egg yolk and sprinkle with grated cheddar cheese.

Baked on preheated oven at 130 C (I used 150 C) until golden brown.

Let the cookies cool to room temperature before transferring to cookie jar.

Some tips:

  • Do not over mix the butter and egg yolk mixture
  • The cookies will expand a little while baking, so do not put them too close to one another on baking pan
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Kue Putri Salju aka Snow White Cookies

This type of cookies is one the most popular delicacy during the festive seasons in Indonesia, be it Christmas, Eid Mubarak, or Chinese New Year. Towards those festive seasons, people will bake or buy various cookies and cakes to serve their guests, putri salju is usually one that always make appearance in many households during these times.

It is called putri salju or snow white because it is generously dusted with icing sugar. The texture is similar to butter shortbread, which it melts in your mouth. However, it has that distinct nutty flavor, which comes from the ground toasted cashew. There are so many variations of this crescent-shaped cookies recipes, ranging from the traditional using cashew to other nuts substitutes and even without any nuts at all. This version is the one we love most.

The recipe is copied from a fellow blogger’s (click here for the original recipe):

  • 200 grams of butter at room temperature (I use unsalted butter with a tiny pinch of salt)
  • 100 grams of castor sugar
  • 250 grams of lightly toasted cashew, then finely ground
  • 200 grams of flour
  • 1 tablespoon of milk powder (I used two heaped tablespoons and reduced the amount of flour used)
  • Icing sugar for dusting

Mix the butter and sugar with a whisk until all combined then add in the ground cashew. Combine well with a spatula before adding the flour and milk powder. Mix until everything is well combined then wrap the cookie dough in a piece of cling wrap and let it rest in the fridge for about 30 minutes.

After 30 minutes rest, the dough should be easy to be rolled and cut with cookie cutter. Traditionally, a crescent-shaped cookie cutter is used, but I used a heart-shaped instead as that is all I can find at home.

Bake in a preheated oven at 140 C for approximately 20 minutes. (I baked mine at 150 C for 20-25 minutes).

Once they are out of oven, let them rest for about 5 minutes then dust them generously with icing sugar. Let the cookies to be completely cool on the pan before transferring to cookie jar.

putri salju mede2

Some tips:

  • The cashew needs to be lightly toasted to prolong the cookies life and prevent them turn rancid too quick
  • Do not over mix the butter and sugar
  • Do not over bake the cookies until golden brown. Once they are easily moved when the baking pan is tapped, they are ready. They may feel too soft to touch, just let them cool in the pan before moving them and they will harden