German Cookies

I believe that these German Cookies need no further introduction. A recipe which calls for only 4 ingredients and simple steps and ta-dah, awaiting you is a tray of irresistible melt-in-the-mouth cookies! :) No wonder these snow-white beauties are one of the popular cookies among the bloggers to bake for CNY this year.

Thanks to Cook.Bake.Love for sharing the recipe. :)

German Cookies
Adapted from: Cook.Bake.Love

Ingredients (Makes 36)
125 g unsalted butter, softened at room temperature
40 g icing sugar
125 g potato starch
80 g plain flour

Method
1. Beat butter and icing sugar till pale and fluffy.
2. Sift in potato starch and plain flour and mix to form a soft dough.
3. Scoop the batter using a teaspoon and roll into small balls. Arrange on a lined baking pan and press lightly with a fork.
4. Bake in a preheated oven at 150°C for 20 minutes (need not bake till cookies turn brown).

Notes
- To prevent the cookie dough from sticking on the fork, dip the fork in water before each use.

Coconut Cookies

These Coconut Cookies are perfectly described by Ching of 平平凡凡，简简单单. During baking, the lovely coconut aroma filled the entire kitchen. The finished products combine and bring out the best of the two worlds: buttery and the sweet fragrance of coconut. Perfect! :)

I am submitting this to Aspiring Bakers #3: My Favorite CNY Cookie (Jan 2011) hosted by j3ss kitchen.

Thanks to 平平凡凡，简简单单 for sharing the recipe. :)

Coconut Cookies
Adapted from: 平平凡凡，简简单单 and 君之

Ingredients (Makes 38)
80 g cake flour
10 g rice flour
20 g desiccated coconut
90 g butter, softened at room temperature
1 tbsp egg, lightly beaten
45 g icing sugar
Some desiccated coconut, for sprinkling

Method
1. In a large bowl, sift the cake flour and rice flour together. Mix in desiccated coconut and set aside.
2. Beat butter and icing sugar till the batter turns pale and increases in volume.
3. Add in egg and beat until well-combined.
4. Fold in the flour mixture using a spatula until a soft dough is formed.
5. Using one teaspoon of dough, roll into a ball and coat with desiccated coconut. Place the dough into small cases and arrange the cases on a baking tray.
6. Bake in a preheated oven at 150°C for 15 – 20 minutes until golden brown. 
7. Cool on a wire rack before storing in an airtight container.

Matcha Yogurt Cupcakes

The top of these Matcha Yogurt Cupcakes may look bumpy and ugly but they are nicely soft with distinct matcha buttery taste. One is just not enough! :)

Matcha Yogurt Cupcakes
Adapted from: Y3K Cookbook Volume No. 24 Cupcakes 小蛋糕 by Coco Kong

Ingredients (Makes 14)
120 g butter
50 g icing sugar
2 eggs, beaten
50 g plain yogurt
135 g plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tbsp matcha powder
100 g red bean paste, pinch into small bits

Method
1. Beat butter and sugar until smooth.
2. Add in the beaten eggs slowly, followed by the plain yogurt, mix well.
3. Mix in the flour mixture.
4. Add in red bean paste, mix well.
5. Spoon into the prepared paper cups till ¾ full and arrange on a baking tray.
6. Bake in a preheated oven at 150°C for 20 – 25 minutes. Cool on a wire rack.

Notes
- I replaced icing sugar with castor sugar and omitted red bean paste.

Osmanthus Tea Cake

I adore the sweet scent and the little specks of osmanthus in the cake. The cake may appear to be slightly dry at the first bite but it goes well with a cup of hot tea or coffee. :)

Thanks to Peng's Kitchen for sharing the recipe. :)

Osmanthus Tea Cake
Adapted from: Peng's Kitchen

Ingredients (Makes a 20-cm round)
60 g unsalted butter
100 g castor sugar
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 tsp vanilla extract
150 g self-raising flour, sifted
90 ml milk
1 1/2 tbsp dried osmanthus
Topping 
10 g unsalted butter, melted
Some castor sugar

Method
1. Preheat oven to 180°C. Grease and flour side of a 20-cm round pan, line the base with parchment paper.
2. Bring milk to a boil. Lower the heat, add in dried osmanthus and simmer for about 2 minutes. Set aside to cool.
3. In a mixing bowl, beat butter and sugar till light and fluffy.
4. Add in the egg gradually, beating well after each addition. Add in vanilla extract and mix well.
5. Fold in the flour and milk alternately, stir lightly with a spatula until smooth.
6. Spread the batter into the prepared pan and bake at 180°C for 30 minutes till the cake turns golden or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.
7. Stand cake in pan for 5 minutes. Turn onto the cooling rack, brush the top with melted butter and sprinkle with caster sugar.

Notes
- I replaced 150 g self-raising flour with 150 g plain flour, 1 tsp baking powder and a pinch of salt.
- I boiled 90 g milk and steeped with 1 1/2 tbsp (4 g) dried osmanthus. The cooled milk mixture weighed 68 g and I topped up with milk till the milk mixture weighed 80 g.
- Added in the flour in 3 additions, alternating with milk mixture and beat using the electric mixer at the lowest speed.
- I omitted the topping.

Red Bean Mochi Cake

Mochiko flour is most commonly used to make mochi, a Japanese sticky rice cake which is served as a traditional food during the New Year or as a popular snack at all times. Besides mochi, I learnt that many bloggers have also used mochiko flour to make Mochi Cake with countless interesting variations.

I settled upon the Red Bean Mochi Cake at Little Corner of Mine. The mochi cake is slightly crisp on the outside; soft and slightly chewy on the inside. It has a very "mochi"-like taste and the addition of red bean paste reminds me of glutinous rice balls with red bean paste (红豆汤圆). Interesting, unique and delicious! :)

Thanks to Little Corner of Mine and Lemonpi for sharing the recipe. :)

Red Bean Mochi Cake
Adapted from: Little Corner of Mine and Lemonpi

Ingredients
2 eggs
100 g castor sugar
85 g unsalted butter, melted
160 g fresh milk
20 g coconut cream
225 g mochiko / glutinous rice flour
1 tsp baking powder
200 g red bean paste

Method
1. Preheat oven to 175°C. Line the cupcake mould with paper liners.
2. Sift mochiko and baking powder together. Set aside.
3. With an electric mixer, whisk the eggs and sugar until light and fluffy.
4. Fold in the melted butter, coconut cream and milk.
5. Fold in the flour mixture.
6. Fold in the red bean paste.
7. Pour the batter into the prepared cupcake mould.
8. Bake for 20 – 25 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean.
9. Cool the cake on a rack, then remove from pan.

Almond Pandan Cookies

Baking cookies or should I say handling dough is never my forte. Can you believe that I actually spent more than 1.5 hour just to roll the dough and cut into shapes? I guess I really need to brush up my skills. Haha...

I am glad that the time and effort spent are paid off with crunchy buttery almond cookies. :)

I am submitting this to Aspiring Bakers #3: My Favorite CNY Cookie (Jan 2011) hosted by j3ss kitchen.

Thanks to My Kitchen Snippets for sharing the recipe. :)

Almond Pandan Cookies
Adapted from: My Kitchen Snippets

Ingredients (Makes 75 small cookies)
100 g butter
50 g sugar
100 g flour
25 g ground almond
40 g cornflour
Pinch of salt
1/2 tsp pandan paste

Method
1. Sift flour, corn flour and salt together. Add in the ground almond and mix well. Set aside.
2. Beat butter, sugar and pandan paste until soft and well-combined.
3. Add in the flour mixture and mix till well-combined.
4. Chill the dough in the refrigerator for half an hour.
5. Roll the dough out to about ½-cm thick and cut into shapes using cookie cutters.
6. Place the cookies in a lined baking sheet. Bake in a preheated oven at 160°C for 20 minutes until lightly brown on the edges.
7. Cool completely on a wire rack and store in an airtight container.

Red Bean Paste Chiffon Cake

When the cake was baking in the oven, the kitchen was filled with red bean and coconut milk aroma. However, I can barely detect and taste any red bean in this cake when I am eating it. I wonder why.

Nonetheless, this delightfully light and guiltless cake receives praises from my parents and aunt as "healthy and not oily". The cake is so soft that I can't seem to be able to slice the cake neatly and the best "pose" is to let the slice lay on its side. Haha... Smiles, dear chiffon, you are on camera! :)

Thanks to Happy Flour for sharing the recipe. :)

Red Bean Paste Chiffon Cake
Adapted from: Happy Flour

Ingredients (Makes an 18-cm tube cake)
(A)
3 egg yolks
20 g castor sugar
2 tbsp vegetable oil
Pinch of salt
75 g cake flour
65 g red bean paste
70 g thick coconut milk
(B)
3 egg whites
1/4 tsp cream of tartar
60 g castor sugar

Method
1. Sift cake flour and salt together. Set aside.
2. Cook red bean paste and coconut milk together over low heat. Set aside to cool.
3. In a bowl, whisk egg yolks, sugar, oil, red bean mixture and flour mixture together until well-combined. (If batter is too thick, add 1/2 – 1 tbsp water.)
4. In a clean dry mixing bowl, beat the egg whites and cream of tartar till frothy. Gradually add in the sugar and beat until stiff peaks form.
5. Fold in 1/4 of the beaten egg whites into the egg yolk mixture until combined.
6. Fold in the rest of the egg whites lightly in 3 portions until well combined.
7. Pour the batter into an ungreased 18-cm tube pan.
8. Bake in a preheated oven at 175°C for 40 minutes.
9. Remove from the oven and invert the pan immediately. Let it cool completely before unmold.

Notes
- I used 25 g of vegetable oil and omitted cream of tartar.

Blogger Meetup

Thanks to Jess for initiating and organising this meetup session. I met her and Cathy yesterday at J8. It was an enjoyable afternoon chatting with these two sweet and friendly ladies. I look forward to meeting you ladies again. :)

Many, many thanks to your lovely home-baked gifts. :)

Grand Marnier Vanilla Bean Sugi Cookies from Jess. Ooh, I simply love these addictive melt-in-the-mouth cookies. I am blessed to be able to taste Jess's wonderful creation, something so yummy that you will never find it elsewhere. :)

Banana Cake from Jess. Besides the cookies, Jess also baked a Banana Cake for us, a moist cake with a rich banana flavour. :)

Peanut Butter Cookies from Cathy. I am a peanut butter lover and this is the first time that I sample peanut butter in bakes, other than spreading on the bread which I usually do. I must say they are fabulously great! The peanut butter taste in the cookies is just right for me and I love the addition of the crunchy peanut bits in the cookies. :)

Steamed Rice Cake

When I first made this Steamed Rice Cake, I unknowingly swapped the amount of rice flour and plain flour. The result of my error was a soft and light rice cake. :) 

This time round, I used the correct amount of rice flour and plain flour. I am not sure if I have done correctly; the resulting rice cake is slightly on the chewy side and less fluffy. As for the texture, I preferred the first version, i.e. the mixed-up recipe. Haha. Nonetheless, the rice cake tastes marvelous and fantastic. :)

Below is the correct version of the recipe. Feel free to swap the amount of the flour like I did and let me know which one you prefer. :)

Steamed Rice Cake
Adapted from: Magic Steamed Cake by Alex Goh

Ingredients (Makes 3)
50 g rice flour
18.75 g plain flour
82.5 g water
25 g sugar
3/4 tsp double-acting baking powder
Few drops of pink colouring

Method
1. Mix rice flour, plain flour, water, sugar and baking powder until well-blended.
2. Add in the colouring and mix until well-combined.
3. Pour the batter into cupcake moulds lined with paper cups to 90% full.
4. Steam over high heat for 25 minutes.

Notes
- I mixed the pink colouring with water before adding to the dry ingredients and mixed until well-combined.