I craved for some cookies after stumbling on a recipe and had meant to bake them for the last couple of weeks. Finally I did and I was very happy with the results, the cookies were deliciously chewy, semi-sweet, melt in your mouth goodness :)

I added dried cranberry (1/3 cup) on my cookie dough, and the tartness from the cranberries add a balance on the chocolatey and nutty flavor..

The recipe is from Heidi Swanson from 101 cookbook

Great Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe

1/2 cup (100 grams) granulated sugar
1/2 cup (120 grams) firmly packed light brown sugar
8 tablespoons (1 stick) (115 grams) unsalted butter, cold, cut into 1/2-inch (1cm) pieces
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/4 cups (175 grams) all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups (200 grams) semisweet chocolate chips
1 cup(130 grams) walnuts or pecans, toasted and chopped

Adjust the oven rack to the top 1/3 of the oven and preheat to 300F (150C). Line three baking sheets with parchment paper.

Beat the sugars and butters together until smooth. Mix in the egg, vanilla, and baking soda. Stir together the flour and salt, then mix them into the batter. Mix in the chocolate chips and nuts.

Scoop the cookie dough into 2-tablespoon (5cm) balls and place 8 balls, spaced 4 inches (10cm) apart, on each of the baking sheets.

Bake for 18 minutes, or until pale golden brown. Remove from the oven and cool on a wire rack.

Store at room temperature in an airtight container for up to 3 days.

Make about 20 cookies.

Posted by Caroline at 01:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | Printer-friendly version

Made the scones for breakfast today, both my hubby and lil brother couldn't get enough of it....the scones are really good eaten with the orange marmalade jam... :) 

The recipe is from Ina Garten's "The barefoot contessa" I modified it by using cranberry instead of strawberry, and added chopped walnuts as well...enjoy...

Posted by Caroline at 08:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | Printer-friendly version

  The recipe is from the Everyday Italian show by Giada De Laurentiis. I love watching her show; her cooking style is quick, simple, and yet, it's always fresh.  

  The original recipe was a Banana Muffins with Mascarpone Cream Frosting. I modified the recipe by omitting the cream cheese frosting and adding the walnut instead. Enjoy..

Banana Muffin

3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
2 cups sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
3 large eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
4 ripe bananas, peeled and coarsely mashed

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.

In a bowl, whisk the flour, baking soda, salt, baking powder, cinnamon, and nutmeg

In different bowl, beat the sugar, oil, eggs, and vanilla. Add in the banana. Add the dry ingredients above and stir until blended.

Add the batter on the prepared baking aluminum. Bake on the middle rack until the tops are golden brown and insert tooth pick into the center to check it come with no crumbs attached, in about 25 minutes

Kue Sus or Choux Pastry reminds me of my childhood in Indonesia as I ate it so often when I was growing up.  My mom usually bought it from a bakery, and I never made kue sus from scratch before...luckily, my brother's gf, Siu Fang, visited me few weeks ago and taught me to make this custard puffs...yumm...  so far, I have already made this pastry a couple of times and my family loves it sooo much. Rico even ate them for breakfast, snack and dessert

Siu Fang's Kue Sus is definitely a keeper; the pastry itself is moist on the inside with a bit of crust on the outside, and the custard has a perfect sweetness & texture...yum..yum..yum..

Kue Sus

~~~~~oOo~~~~~

PASTRY:

200 ml air / water

1 oz mentega /  butter

1 oz terigu / flour

3 butir telur / eggs

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Masak air sampai mendidih. Masukkan Mentega. Aduk Rata.

   Boil water and add the butter and mix together.

2. Masukkan terigu dan asuk rata.

   Add the flour into the mixture and mix.

3. Taruh adonan di wadah lain dan masukkan telur. Mixer hingga rata.

    Put the paste into the mixer and add in the eggs. Beat it until well blended.

4. Di oven selama 35 menit dengan suhu 180 derajat Celcius atau 365 derajat Farenheit.

    Bake at 365 F for 35 minutes.

CUSTARD:

450 cc susu / milk

65 gr maizena / corn starch

1 kuning telur / egg yolks

1 sdm rhum / tbs rhum

1 sdm mentega / tbs butter

1 oz gula / oz sugar

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Campur susu dan maizena, kemudian masak sampai mendidih.

   Mix milk and cornstarch. Cook until boiled.

2. Masukkan kuning telur, mentega, dan gula. Aduk rata.

   Add egg yolk, butter, and sugar. Mix until blended.

3. Masukkan rhum kalau adonanan sudah dingin.

   Add the rhum when the custard is at room temperature.

Posted by Caroline at 09:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | Printer-friendly version