If Jonah Can Bake THUMBPRINT COOKIES, So Can You! (Episode 2)

Hi everyone!

My husband, Jonah, asked me the other day, "How did I become a regular baker on your instagram?" hahaha! Quite funny! Not sure how it happened because he was supposed to be a special guest and now he's a regular! But I think it's pretty cool. I get to teach him what I love to do and also get to see his progress!

This week he levelled up! Not only did he make the dough beforehand (so that with TV magic he could say "Here's one I prepared earlier.") but he also did some cookie decorating! He made these Thumbprint cookies (aka Raspberry Shortbread Cookies on a previous blog post) and filled them with different fillings. The cookie dough needs to be rested for at least 1 hour so make sure you plan ahead. 

Thumbprint Cookies

Ingredients
113g butter, room temperature
67g (1/3 cup) caster sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla essence
140g (1 cup) plain flour
Glaze
60g (1/2) cup soft icing sugar
1-2 tbs milk

1. Cream butter and sugar in a large bowl with electric mixer until well combined.
2. Add vanilla and mix. 
3. Add half of the flour and either mix on low speed or use a wooden spoon to combine. Add the rest of the flour and mix until combined. If still dry, you can use your hands to press the dough into a ball. Cover with clingwrap and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.
4. Preheat oven to 180oC and line 2 baking trays with baking paper. 
5. Shape teaspoonsful of dough into balls (If the dough is too hard, you can work it with your hands. The warmth of your hands should soften the dough). Place 1 inch apart onto baking tray. Using your thumb or the end of a wooden spoon handle, make an indent in the centre of each cookie. Fill with jam or any other spreads (e.g. nutella, biscoff). 
6. Bake for 14 minutes or until edges are lightly brown. Allow to cool.
7. Make glaze by mixing icing sugar and milk and drizzle over cooled cookies.

You can be creative with the fillings (maybe not vegemite haha) and the shapes :)

Happy Baking!! Till the next episode....

Work Catering #52: A year of catering~

It's been 52 weeks... a year since work catering!! wow...... anyways I'm always looking for inspirations for bakes so if you ever find a recipe or idea that seems interesting, let me know! :D I have a friend who sends me dessert pics all the time ^^ love it!

The two bakes this week are really simple recipes but delicious~ They don't need many ingredients but most of the ingredients you can find in your pantry! Let's start off with a simple and moist chocolate cake :) 

Chocolate Sour Cream Pound Cake
Recipe adapted from Happy Flour

Ingredients
75g unsalted butter
75g sour cram
140g caster sugar
2 eggs
1/4 tsp vanilla essence
100g plain flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt

1. Preheat oven to 165oC. Grease bundt tin.
2. Sift together cocoa powder, salt and baking powder. Set aside.
3. In a separate bowl, cream butter, sour cream and sugar together until light and fluffy. 4. Beat in eggs one at a time. Beat in vanilla essence until well combined.
5. Fold in flour mixture until combined. Pour batter into pan. Bake for 30-35 minutes or until skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Leave to cool in pan for 5 minutes then remove and allow to cool on wire rack.

This cake was light and fluffy and really simple to make. I drizzled on some chocolate ganache and sprinkled toasted coconut on top for decoration ^^ Makes the cake look more tasty right? haha

weird photo colour...

Next up are these addictive Nutella shortbread cookies with even less ingredients and less steps than the cake!

Nutella Shortbread Cookies
Recipe adapted from Kirbie Cravings

Ingredients
225g unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
2/3 cup icing sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla essence
2 1/4 cup plain flour
1/2 cup Nutella
1 cup chocolate chips

1. Beat butter and sugar together until smooth. Beat in vanilla and Nutella.
2. Stir in flour and mix until dough comes together. Mix in chocolate chips.
3. Place dough between 2 sheets of baking paper. Roll the dough into a rectangle shape about 1/2 cm thick. Refrigerate dough for at least 2 hours.
4. Preheat oven to 160oC. Cut dough into 5x5cm squares. Bake for 18-20 minutes or until cookies turn brown at the edges.

I topped my shortbread biscuits with a squirt of chocolate frosting piped on with a star nozzle. It made it look a little bit more fancy and also added a bit of moisture to the shortbread.

squares of yummy shortbread

I still have so many bakes to blog about! So stay tuned :D

Work Catering #37: First of 2014! A raspberry theme~

YAY! My work catering series is back!! One of the things that I have been most looking forward to at work =p (maybe im in the wrong job.. hmm..)

tasty cookies~

My bakes this week had a raspberry theme! Not sure why but I was just in the mood of using raspberries ^_^" First up is a Raspberry Cheesecake Brownies.. combining two of my favourite sweets: Cheesecake and Brownies! I found this recipe on this new blog I have been following: Sally's Baking Addiction. You guys should really check it out!!! It's such a wonderful and colourful blog and the photos just make you drroooolllll!!! and also make you want to bake (like I did XD).

Raspberry Cheesecake Brownies

Recipe adapted from Sally's Baking Addiction

Ingredients

Fudge Brownies
1/2 cup (115g) unsalted butter
225g dark chocolate melts
1 cup caster sugar
3 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla essence
3/4 cup plain flour
1/4 tsp salt

Raspberry Cheesecake Layer
250g cream cheese, softened at room temp
1/4 cup caster sugar
1 egg yolk
1/4 cup raspberry jam
1/4 cup raspberries for topping

1. Preheat oven to 180oC. Grease and line baking pan (20x30cm).
2. To make the brownies, place the butter and chocolate in medium saucepan on medium heat and stir constantly till both are melted. Remove from heat and allow to cool (~10-15 minutes should be fine).
3. Stir in sugar and mix until combined. Add in eggs one at a time, mixing until incorporated before adding next egg. Mix in vanilla. Gently fold in flour and salt. Pour batter in prepared pan.
4. To make the cheesecake layer, beat together the cream cheese and sugar with electric beater until smooth. Add in egg yolk and beat until combined. Beat in raspberry jam.
5. Dollop spoonfuls of cream cheese mixture on top of brownie batter. Glide a knife through the layers to create a swirl pattern. Sprinkle and press a few raspberries on the top.
6. Bake for ~30 minutes or until skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Cover the brownies after 20 minutes of baking to stop the top from over browning. Allow brownies to cool completely before cutting into squares.

Loving the layers

bright pop of rapsberries ^^

The next recipe I tried also involves raspberry jam!! They are essentially thumbprint/jam drop cookies but made up of shortbread. I have previously made jam drop cookies but wasn't too happy with the result. However this shortbread recipe was really good as the cookies did not spread so much so the jam stayed in the holes xP and it's EGG FREE!

Raspberry Shortbread Cookies
Recipe adapted from Melding Magic

Ingredients
225g butter, softened
2/3 cup caster sugar
2 cups plain flour
1/2 cup raspberry jam

Glaze
1 cup icing sugar
3 - 4 tsp warm water
1 tsp vanilla essence

1. Cream butter and sugar in large bowl with electric mixer.
2. Add in flour and beat on low speed and well combined. Cover and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.
3. Preheat oven to 180oC and line 2 baking trays with baking paper. Shape teaspoonsful of dough into balls. Place 1 inch apart onto tray. Using your thumb or end of wooden spoon handle, make an indent in the centre of each cook. Fill with jam.

Filling holes with jam

4. Bake for 14 minutes or until edges are lightly brown. Allow to cool.

Cooked cookies :D

Allowing them to cool....

5. Make glaze by mixing sugar, water and vanilla in small bowl. Drizzle over cookies.

Ready to eat :D

Close up of the drizzle! looks like white chocolate but it's not XD

Well stay tuned for more work catering bakes and other random recipes~~^_^ and try these out! they're really simple!!!!