Cookies, cookies and MORE cookies
Now is the time of the year that everyone has been waiting for.. It's CHINESE NEW YEAR!!!!! Every household will be swimming under piles of unopened sweets, chocolates, cookies, pineapple tarts, love letters, cakes, you name it we have it. My mum has been running all over Singapore ordering multicoloured swiss-rolls with too little cream from what she deems a "stingy poker" Chinese lady, then rushing to some place else to collect fantastic pineapple tarts from another Malay lady.. We Chinese simply believe in eating in excess. Anyway, I too started on my Chinese New Year baking and have (hopefully) finished. It does get tiring, mixing, shaping, baking, and mixing, shaping, baking and perhaps burning a small batch of butter cookies and then incurring the wrath of my mother who can't stand things going to waste. Here are 2 recipes of cookies that I made! Enjoy :)
The growing pile of cookies at my place. This is just half of my new year goodies collection, there's cake to feed hundreds too.
My Chinese New Years in the past were never complete without these cornflake cookies. Some distant aunt used to make them. Then we grew more distant. My next brush with these was at a school for children with special needs and my best friend and I were battling screams and shouts and mischievous but adorable little kids at a cooking class where the kids were baking cornflake cookies!!! Anyway, I was overjoyed when I found this recipe on the Kellogg's website. It's buttery and crunchy with a twist of lemon to make it so so addictive.
Cornflake Cookies
2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup butter, softened
2/3 cup sugar
3 egg yolks
1/2 teaspoon grated lemon peel
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups Kellog's Corn Flakes (crushed to 1/2 cup)
Directions
Stir together flour and salt. Set aside.
In a large mixing bowl, beat together butter, sugar, egg yolks, lemon peel and vanilla until well combined. Add flour mixture, mix well. Portion and shape dough into 1-inch balls. Roll in cornflakes. Place on ungreased baking sheets, about inches apart. Flatten slightly.
Bake at 180 degrees C for about 12 -15 minutes or until lightly browned. Remove from baking sheets and cool on wire racks. Store in airtight container.
This next recipe is adapted from a pastry book given to me by Matt last year for Christmas. Thanks matt! I really love this book. It's called "The Golden Book of Patisserie" and is one of my favourite recipe books in my collection because of all the pictures which are essentially works of art. As for the recipe, I tweaked it a little, omitting the nougat in the chocolate filling as I was reluctant to run the extra mile and buy extra ingredients. This is dedicated to all the chocolate lovers out there. Chun En and Clara especially who loved these.
Filled Cat's Tongues
Cat's Tongue Cookies
2/3 cup (100g) all purpose flour
1/8 tablespoon salt
1/3 cup (90g) butter, softened
1/3 cup (75g) granulated sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla sugar
2 large egg whites
1 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest
Chocolate Filling
Chocolate nutella spread
Preheat oven to 180 degrees C. Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper. Combine flour and salt in a medium bowl. Beat butter and both sugars in a large bowl until creamy. Add the egg whites and lemon zest, beating until pale and thick. With mixer on low speed, beat in the dry ingredients.
Fit a pastry bag with a 2 inch (5cm) plain tip. Fill the pastry bag, and squeeze out 2 inch (5cm) lengths, spacing 1 1/2 inches (4cm) apart. Bake one sheet at a time for about 7 minutes or until faintly tinged with brown on the top and slightly darker at the edges. Working quickly, use a spatula to lift each cookie from the sheet and transfer to the racks to cool.
When cookies are cooled, stick the cookies together in pairs with the nutella spread.
The growing pile of cookies at my place. This is just half of my new year goodies collection, there's cake to feed hundreds too.
My Chinese New Years in the past were never complete without these cornflake cookies. Some distant aunt used to make them. Then we grew more distant. My next brush with these was at a school for children with special needs and my best friend and I were battling screams and shouts and mischievous but adorable little kids at a cooking class where the kids were baking cornflake cookies!!! Anyway, I was overjoyed when I found this recipe on the Kellogg's website. It's buttery and crunchy with a twist of lemon to make it so so addictive.
Cornflake Cookies
2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup butter, softened
2/3 cup sugar
3 egg yolks
1/2 teaspoon grated lemon peel
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups Kellog's Corn Flakes (crushed to 1/2 cup)
Directions
Stir together flour and salt. Set aside.
In a large mixing bowl, beat together butter, sugar, egg yolks, lemon peel and vanilla until well combined. Add flour mixture, mix well. Portion and shape dough into 1-inch balls. Roll in cornflakes. Place on ungreased baking sheets, about inches apart. Flatten slightly.
Bake at 180 degrees C for about 12 -15 minutes or until lightly browned. Remove from baking sheets and cool on wire racks. Store in airtight container.
This next recipe is adapted from a pastry book given to me by Matt last year for Christmas. Thanks matt! I really love this book. It's called "The Golden Book of Patisserie" and is one of my favourite recipe books in my collection because of all the pictures which are essentially works of art. As for the recipe, I tweaked it a little, omitting the nougat in the chocolate filling as I was reluctant to run the extra mile and buy extra ingredients. This is dedicated to all the chocolate lovers out there. Chun En and Clara especially who loved these.
Filled Cat's Tongues
Cat's Tongue Cookies
2/3 cup (100g) all purpose flour
1/8 tablespoon salt
1/3 cup (90g) butter, softened
1/3 cup (75g) granulated sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla sugar
2 large egg whites
1 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest
Chocolate Filling
Chocolate nutella spread
Preheat oven to 180 degrees C. Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper. Combine flour and salt in a medium bowl. Beat butter and both sugars in a large bowl until creamy. Add the egg whites and lemon zest, beating until pale and thick. With mixer on low speed, beat in the dry ingredients.
Fit a pastry bag with a 2 inch (5cm) plain tip. Fill the pastry bag, and squeeze out 2 inch (5cm) lengths, spacing 1 1/2 inches (4cm) apart. Bake one sheet at a time for about 7 minutes or until faintly tinged with brown on the top and slightly darker at the edges. Working quickly, use a spatula to lift each cookie from the sheet and transfer to the racks to cool.
When cookies are cooled, stick the cookies together in pairs with the nutella spread.