at Wednesday, January 23, 2013

Chocolate Sables

This year Chinese New Year will be a special one because we are expecting an additional family member to celebrate along ;) Knowing my expected delivery date is somewhere around Chinese New Year, or most probably much earlier, I had started my Chinese New Year bakings since early of January. Considering that I'm still working and only free to bake after work or weekends, I had to really plan it out so that the cookies/ snacks will be all ready for Chinese New Year before I go for labour. 

I have a super long list of cookies and snacks to be accomplished this year. Some of the cookies which I baked last year didn't turn out as good as I wished. Therefore, I am still on a quest to search for the best cookies recipes which I can reuse year after year. 

One of the recipe which I had copied for a very long time is this Chocolate Sable from uTry.it. What caught my attention is the beautifully shaped cookies that looks so 'dark' and chocolatey. Another good thing with this recipe is it only uses egg whites, which is a good way to finish off the remaining egg whites from other bakings that use egg yolks for glazing. 

This recipe is very quick and easy. I used normal cocoa powder from baking supplies shop instead of a branded one because I don't fancy super bitter chocolatey taste. The cookies taste good, not too sweet. I am sure it will taste better if using better quality cocoa powder, and maybe reduce it slightly it is too bitter. The only let down is the shape of the cookies become flat while baking. It could be I over beat the butter, or the butter in the mixture melted due to the hot weather, or my oven temperature. So instead of pretty flowers, I get flat flowers :( Nevertheless, the cookies is still good.

Chocolate Sables (recipe from uTry.it)

• 2 cups all purpose flour 
• 6 tablespoons cocoa powder 
• 2 1/2 sticks (10oz) unsalted butter, room temperature 
• 1 cup powdered sugar 
• a pinch of kosher salt 
• 1/2 teaspoon instant coffee granulate, dissolved in 1 teaspoon of hot water 
• 4 tablespoons lightly beaten egg whites (from around 2 extra large eggs) 
• around 1/2 cup chocolate chips (topping the cookies and some to snack on) 

1. Preheat oven to 350 degree F.  Line baking sheet with silpat or parchment paper, set aside.
2. In a tall plastic mug, prepare a pastry bag, fitted with a large swirl/star tip (I used Wilton 1M), set aside.  In a mixing bowl, whisk flour and cocoa powder together, set aside. 
3. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the flat beater (or use a large mixing bowl with a hand held mixer), on low speed, beat the butter, powdered sugar and salt.  When ingredients are well mixed, turn mixer to medium high speed and beat until light and fluffy.  (Start with low speed so you don’t cover yourself and the kitchen with powdered sugar!)  
4. Then, add the coffee mixture and egg white and beat until well incorporated.  Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula as needed.   
5. Turn mixer on low and slowly add in the dry ingredients.  Mix until just combined.  Transfer the dough to the prepared pastry bag. 
6. Pipe dough onto prepared baking sheet.  You can simply pipe an 1-inch rounds, 1-inch apart.  Or, pipe dough with the “infinity” shape (like a horizontal 8) 1 by 2-inch size.  Top with a piece of chocolate chip in the middle of each piped dough. 
7. Bake 1-inch rounds for 10 minutes and 1 by 2-inch “8” shapes for 12 minutes.  Cool cookies on baking sheet over wire rack until warm to handle.  Transfer to wire rack to cool completely.  Store in air tight containers.

I am submitting this post to Chinese New Year Delights 2013 hosted by Sonia aka Nasi Lemak Lover.

More Chinese New Year bakings posts coming up. Hope you will not be annoyed! :P

at Monday, November 12, 2012

French Chocolate Macarons

Finally, I brace myself to make macarons although I'm not a big fan of it. Too sweet for my liking. However, I had some egg whites left from my Vanilla Pastry Cream and need to make something out of it. One of the best way of using leftover egg whites is to make macarons or pavlova. I chose macarons because of its colours and the combination of flavours is endless. 

The steps of making macarons actually pretty easy to follow but it requires hell lot of skills and techniques. I had done my equal amount of research and studies on the internet for the recipes and steps by steps of making a successful macarons. There are too many of them and there is no recipes or methods out there which is 100% foolproof. I guess it is a must for everyone to explore and try whichever recipe and method works the best for ourselves. 

Since this is my first attempt, I looked for recipe which yields to a smaller batch and lesser ingredients. Don't want to waste too many egg whites and other ingredients. Besides that, I also looked for recipe which is easier to follow, doesn't require many tools, waiting time etc. There are recipes which called for a thermometer, some requires the egg whites to age overnight and some requires the shells to rest for few hours after piping.. hmm, too much for a first timer. 

At the end, I chose this French Chocolate Macarons recipe from David Lebovitz. Initially, I wanted to be adventurous make colourful macarons. But comes to think of it, what if I fail and they taste horrible?  So I stick to chocolate instead ;)

Chocolate Macarons

Makes about fifteen cookies (I make it into the size of 5 cents and get more than 20 cookies)

Adapted from The Sweet Life in Paris (Broadway) by David Lebovitz

Macaron Batter

1 cup (100 gr) powdered sugar

½ cup powdered almonds (about 2 ounces, 50 gr, sliced almonds, pulverized)

3 tablespoons (25 gr) unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder

2 large egg whites, at room temperature

5 tablespoons (65 gr) granulated sugar

1. Preheat oven to 350º F (180º C).
2. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper and have a pastry bag with a plain tip (about 1/2-inch, 2 cm) ready.
3. Grind together the powdered sugar with the almond powder and cocoa so there are no lumps; use a blender or food processor since almond meal that you buy isn’t quite fine enough.
4. In the bowl of a standing electric mixer, beat the egg whites until they begin to rise and hold their shape. While whipping, beat in the granulated sugar until very stiff and firm, about 2 minutes.
5. Carefully fold the dry ingredients, in two batches, into the beaten egg whites with a flexible rubber spatula. When the mixture is just smooth and there are no streaks of egg white, stop folding and scrape the batter into the pastry bag (standing the bag in a tall glass helps if you’re alone).
6. Pipe the batter on the parchment-lined baking sheets in 1-inch (3 cm) circles (about 1 tablespoon each of batter), evenly spaced one-inch (3 cm) apart.
7. Rap the baking sheet a few times firmly on the counter top to flatten themacarons, then bake them for 15-18 minutes. Let cool completely then remove from baking sheet.

Chocolate Filling

½ cup (125 ml) heavy cream

2 teaspoons light corn syrup

4 ounces (120 gr) bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, finely chopped

1 tablespoon (15 gr) butter, cut into small pieces

Heat the cream in a small saucepan with the corn syrup. When the cream just begins to boil at the edges, remove from heat and add the chopped chocolate. Let sit one minute, then stir until smooth. Stir in the pieces of butter. Let cool completely before using. 

*I chill the filling in the fridge for a while because it was too runny.

Personal notes:

1. I baked the shells in 3 batches because my oven is too small. First tray was baked at 180º C followed the recipe. Few minutes in the oven, the shell cracked. No feet appeared after 25 mins of baking. My verdict is the temperature is too high since I'm using a cheapo oven and the heat is not even at all. 
2. Second tray was rested for 25 minutes while waiting for the first tray to bake. I reduced the temperature to 150º C. Waited for about 10 minutes, the shell looks fine. No crack but also no feet. So I increase the temperature to 170º C. It started to crack but a tiny feet started to appear. After 25 minutes, I took it out and check if they are cooked. Nope, they stick to the baking paper. So I put it back to the oven at the lowest level.
3. Third tray rested for at least 50 minutes. I check the top of the shell before putting them into the oven. There is no 'skin' formed on top of the shell. I lowered the temperature to 150º C and let them bake for as long as they need this time. After 20 minutes or so, no crack and small small feet appeared. I guess the temperate is much better this time but the tiny feet also can be due to low temperature.

There are more trials and errors to be done in order to get a perfect macarons. Especially with an uneven heat oven. Nevertheless, I'm glad that my first attempt didn't resulted in any burnt or underbaked cookies and most importantly, they taste good! More reasons to try again :D

at Monday, November 28, 2011

Mini Chocolate Cake with Buttercream Frosting

Miniature Chocolate Cake two ways. The first idea was chocolate cake with buttercream frosting and topped with chocolate ganache. I love the dripping effect. Too bad I don't have cake boards to put the mini cakes. Otherwise it will be perfect to showcase the final products.

Second idea was to make fondant mini chocolate cake. I find it much easier to cover the cake with fondant than frosting it. The only problem is the sweating issue :( Nevertheless, these babies still look pretty to me.

Recipes for chocolate cake based is adapted from ThePioneerWoman.