Chocolate Chip Cookies III

I tried a different recipe this time. It was one that I used a lot when i started out baking. I guess i still like this one best although the cookies aren't exactly the prettiest i've made because they still taste the yummiest. They're not too sweet (i think i should add more salt next time) and what was good bout these cookies this time round was that i used dark chocolate chips instead of semisweet ones. The taste was vastly different, although some might not think so.

I went to Sun Lik on 6th Feb and I found some Valrhona Choc Chips and Choc Buttons. I haven't really tried dark chocolate chips before so today was quite an eye opener for my taste buds. It was really nice and think the next time i do cookies, i'm gonna go to Sun Lik first to get those choc chips. O yes, and there were so many pretty things over there I even bought those metallic sugar balls (they came in blue, golden, silver and pink). My sister's gonna make brownie on Sunday for a special someone and i'm gonna be there to supervise. Maybe i shall be nice n let her use some of those pretty balls! Ha. We'll see.

Delicate Biscuit Ladies

I remember the first time I tried a Chocolate Chip Cookie, I couldn't stop popping them into my mouth. I had a great fondness for Chips Ahoy cookies. I think my sis and i were such big fans of Chips Ahoy and OREOS that my mom really started to worry bout our teeth. Of course, now that I am such an avid baker and still a great lover of chocolate, i'm more worried bout all the pounds i'm putting on. I think i'm already resembling a rice sack. The 48kg body has been chucked away in a closet i can no longer find my way back to. (sounds like Narnia) Pity pity, quoth Brutus. Anyhow, I haven't exactly found the perfect Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe. Every time i bake one, it just seems that there's something missing. Either it's too chewy for my liking, too crispy, too ugly, too mountainy, too tasteless or sth. :S
In my quest for the perfect cookie recipe and in my foray into the world dominated by the chocolate chip ladies, I experimented with this recipe from chocolate AMERICAN STYLE by Lora Brody. It's actually the Toll House Cookies recipe, inspired by the innkeeper Ruth Wakerfield who experimented with buttercookies and chopped chocolate chunks in 1937 at her inn the Toll House, Whitman, Massachusetts. I must say I can't really tell if the recipe was good because I tweaked it up and about but I should think so because this book is just amazing! I've decided that after i return it to the library, I'm gonna head down to Kino and buy it, along with Alice Medrich's Chocolate Holidays and maybe Lisa Yockelson's Chocolate Chocolate. Sucker.
Anyway, I turned this Toll House recipe into a Supersoft Chocolate Chip Cranberry Cookie recipe. I didn't expect it to be supersoft but my sisters loved the softness (which is extremely rare because most ppl i know prefer crispy cookies to soft & chewy ones) so no harm done i guess.
I'm still on the lookout for the perfect chocolate chip recipe but no worries! It just means i'll have to keep baking to find out. (but golly, there goes the figure again.)

Ingredients
2 1/8 cup plain flour
1/8 cup (about 1-2tbs is fine too) unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 cup unsalted butter, softened (i tried a new brand. Anchor butter. didn't really like the smell...)
3/4 cup caster sugar
3/4 cup dark brown sugar, packed
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 eggs
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup dried cranberries (preferably non-sweetened)

Directions
Preheat oven at 190dCelsius.

Place sifted flour, cocoa powder, soda and salt in a bowl. Give it a light whisk.
Place butter, sugars in a bowl and mix. Add vanilla. Beat well. Next, add the eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Add the flour mixture and beat. Lastly, fold in the chocolate chips and cranberries.
The Toll House recipe actually uses 1 cup toasted walnuts. I took this out as my family isn't too thrilled bout walnuts like i am and besides, i didn't have any lying about the house. But I would really have liked to throw in the walnuts because it would have given the cookies that extra urmph and crunch!
Drop the batter by rounded tablespoonfuls, be generous. Bake for 11 minutes or until the cookies are just a nice golden brown. Leave to cool on the baking sheets on a wire rack for 10 min. The cookies will continue to cook on the sheets and in the process, turn a darker brown.

According to Lisa Brody: For chewier cookies, slam the baking sheets on the counter once or twice before placing them on the wire racks to cool. Interesting. I'm not too sure how that works but I think these cookies are chewy enough.

Cranberry Rock Cakes

Hallelujah! I have finally found my beloved camera. Phew. I found it under my sister's bed and I have no idea what in the world it was doing there. well at least, now that the Sherlock mystery is solved, this post is finally up!
The morning began with a quick wash up, a combing of my hair (gawd, it was everywhere. i looked like a rumpled lion) and then it was off to the kitchen.
I found a rock cakes recipe somewhere when i was blog surfing, forgot which blog. If someone knows then let me know so i can acknowledge this amazing kitchen genius! I toggled the recipe just a little to suit my own taste buds and had great fun making these.
Of course, some people find that rock cakes are a little ugly looking but I kinda like that rough look. Less like a factory made biscuit or cookie. Shouldn't we revel in imperfections? Perfection is impossible to achieve! Anyway, rock cakes have always given me that homey feeling and they're perfect on a pretty kitchen towel for afternoon picnics. Rock cakes also tend to taste slightly floury. According to my sister, she finds these tasteless but I think otherwise. The cranberries give a very nice sweet sour twang and the sugar topping gives it a very nice mild flavour. Rock cakes are best for people who don't really like the overpowering sweetness of cookies and prefer a more scone-like texture and taste. I know my dad will love em with a hot mug of coffee.
The first time I made rock cakes was in secondary school. Home econs lesson. My...that was the best lesson I ever had! The smell from these rock cakes wafting out of the oven was pretty damn amazing. Besides, I got to sneak the raisins into my mouth most of the time. Just a note of caution, cut your nails short when you make these as you need to get ur hands into the butter and flour and you don't want things to stick under your nails. Also wash ur hands with good anti-bacterial soap so your hands are really clean and none of your own body oils will mix with the oils in the butter. I think that would be pretty scary if your rock cakes had added human essence along with all the benefits of bacteria and god-knows what else. You'd be halfway on the road trip to food poisoning.

Cranberry Rock Cakes

Ingredients

2cups all purpose flour

1tsp baking soda

1/2tsp salt

1/2cup butter, slightly softened so it's still firm

rounded 1/3cup sugar

1tsp vanilla essence

1/3 cup dried cranberries (you can substitute this for raisins too)

1 egg, rtp

2tbs milk

coarse (or fine) sugar

Preheat your oven at 200dCelsius.

Whisk the sifted flour, baking soda and salt together. Cut up the butter and put it into this mixture. Rub it lightly with your thumbs moving outwards until the mixture looks like breadcrumbs and is light and fluffy enough to toss it about by shaking the bowl. Make sure there aren't any large bits of butter left as these tend to be very visible after baking.

Stir in sugar and the cranberries.

In a small bowl, lightly beat the egg together with the milk and vanilla. Then pour this into the flour mixture and stir (or use your hands and swiftly mix it about the bowl in circular motions) until dough comes together into a ball.

Then shape the dough into balls, dipping the tops in the extra sugar and bake for 13min or until the tops are golden. Let them cool on the cookie tray for 2min then remove to cool on wire rack. The longer you let them cool on the cookie tray, the more mushy these cakes become. Makes about 24 two-inch cookies.

DIVANA Gingersnaps

Busy day today! Orders to fill today and to be up for collection tmr. Out of a whim, I decided to post up pics of DIVANA Gingersnaps. Currently, we have cupcakes and cookies on our menu but we do customise for special orders like slices, whole cakes and muffins. Somehow, I'm beginning to think the new year will start to bring in more orders and business will be good.
I just can't wait for the new year. To think 'next year' is 'next week', the thought is both daunting but utterly exciting. It's like a start of a new life, not to mention a start of a new baking frenzy. And of course, more birthdays to come and more birthday cakes to make. And! Chinese New Year is around the corner to, so that also leads to more baking of chinese goodies like almond cookies, pineapple tarts (though i think i'm too lazy to even try doing those...could possibly ask mo for a good recipe). And my new year resolution: move away a little from baking and try main course dishes. Just yesterday, I did a fettucine with sweet cherry tomatoes for the dinner at yif's. Seemed like it was pretty good though I was sooo very afraid it would get a bad response because it was very much like a pasta salad, served with red wine vinegar, lots of olive oil, dried marjoram and fresh basil. Luckily, tasted fine and vin said 'thank you'. :)

Well, so here's today. I won't be posting up the recipe since it's kind of like a secret recipe! Ha. If you do want to try these cookies or want to find out what are the cupcakes and cookies DIVANA makes, just drop me an email at divana-@hotmail.com and sam and I would be delighted to cater to whatever your needs or enquiry.

So here's a very Merry Christmas (i'm still in the mood) to everyone! Enjoy yourself up till the new year with good foodies and great company. I shall do so at the party tonight so here's outa from me. Baker's gonna get a life tonight!