Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Chocolate chips cookies

As Chinese New Year (CNY)is around the corner, I baked sweet treats suitable for guests to nibble on. After baking pineapple tarts, I baked chocolate chips cookies. I always like petite size desserts. What I did to the dough was roll them into 2 tsps size balls and put inside the freezer for 15mins. Don't worry if they are hard rock when you placed the cookie dough balls into the oven, they will form into nice petite almost round cookie when baked.
Note: if your dough is too soft, chill them for half an hour to firm the dough up abit. This is to prevent the cookies dough from spreading too fast in the oven during baking.

I love chocolate chips cookies!! You can find the recipes for these cookies in my earlier post under Cookies category. Enjoy!

Sunday, January 23, 2011

White Chocolate Truffles

I received a desserts book for Christmas pressie last year. It is a book about chocolate related desserts. I was delighted when I first received it. I so wanted to try one of the recipes immediately when I was at my friend's place,E especially so when E has all the necessary baking utensils and a built-in oven.

Well, I didn't wish to make a mess in the kitchen as my Christmas pressie for E, so I passed on the idea. Looking thru' the book, I decided on white chocolate truffles as the steps looked fairly simple to follow. I didn't think I did a good job in making these truffles. The truffles look like truffles but I'm not satisfied with the melted white choco.

I know my mistakes, I think, based on what I gathered from the  internet. I should do a double boil on the white chocolates and not let the white chocolates' bowl touch the water directly. My white chocolates seem to be melting initially but they turn lumpy and sticky after 15 mins or so. I know my preparation has gone horribly wrong. I added a spoonful of vegetable oil to smooth the white chocolates and it worked. Thanks to the magic of internet and my white chocolates are saved. Ain't sure how many truffles I can make out of these melted thingy. What I am sure is that I won't attempt to make chocolates truffles again until I am taught the proper way to prepare them. I shan't post  the recipe over here since I didn't do a good in making them. Sorry guys... :( However, I will not give up testing out other yummylicious recipes and will only post the recipe here after I know these recipes can be relied on safely. :)

Thursday, January 20, 2011

Pineapple tarts III

Hi everyone, I'm back to my baking habits again. I was away for some time due to travelling. Went Europe for 3 weeks; touring with friends and some parts on my own. It was quite an experience, though I wish I won't experience the adventure again. No more winter travels to countries that snow. No way...

Chinese New Year is around the corner. And yes, I baked pineapple tarts again. This time I baked the PT using 3 different brands of butter. They are Lurpak, President and Anchor. A of them taste really good but Lurpak unsalted butter is definitely my first choice as it gave out the best aromatic buttery smell.Not forgetting the fact that Lurpak is also the most expensive butter. Using quality ingredients is impt in bringing out the best of dessert one is preparing. Quality may not necessarily means we've to use expensive ingredients all the time. If I can find a cheaper alternative and at the same time I get to enjoy tasty food, it'll be a bonus.

I will post new baking recipes soon. Happy New Year to all who drop by! =)