Kitty Cookies

Once in a while I get tempted to make cookies. What's not to like about fancy, decorated cookies? They're so pretty and delicious to boot! I think Bridget of Bake at 350 is mostly to blame!! Pop over to her blog and you'll see what I mean!! Her cookies are all sooooo extremely gorgeous!!

 Anyway, every time, without fail, after I slave over my cookies, I promise myself never to make cookies ever again!! It's just that cookies are so much work! I have a teensy weensy oven, so I have to bake in many small batches. Making cookies mean an assembly line of rolling, cutting, refrigerating, baking and repeating over and over and  over again...

These Kitty cookies were no exception. I had to make 30 pieces of iced cookies and another 30 un-iced. I don't think I'll be taking orders for cookies again anytime soon! But I don't think this will be the last time I make cookies either! (I'll succumb to the temptation again, just you wait and see!!)

So anyway, Hello Kitty is fortunately quite a simple design. The cookies were baked then cooled, and decorated with fondant. I used red food color mixed with lemon extract to paint the ribbon. Next time I will make sure to use alcohol, as the color took a long time to dry. I was worried that the cookies were going soft  since I left them out to dry for so long. Yet I could  not pack them or put them in an air tight container until the red was dry!

In the end I packed them while they were still a little bit wet and there was some smudging. I had no choice, as that was better than soft, mushy cookies!!

So I packed them into individual bags, sealed them and hot glued ribbons onto the bags. They turned out pretty nice I must say...

Gingerbread house

I love gingerbread houses. There's something magical about an edible house covered in a myriad of colourful, enticing candies. It's like something out of your childhood dreams! Wouldn't a life-sized one be amazing? Just like Hansel and Gretel! :)

So anyway, I've never made a gingerbread house before this, only gingerbread men and Christmas trees and such. This year, I decided to try a whole house instead of just wee little men and trees. It's actually not hard to do at all!

First, I decided on the shape and size of  the house and made some templates from cardboard. A pentagonal shape for the front and back, a rectangle for the walls and another rectangle for the roofs. There were 3 pieces altogether.

Then I made the gingerbread dough following the recipe below.

After rolling out the dough, I used the templates to cut out the shapes. I made two of each shape, so I ended up with 6 pieces. For the front of the house (pentagonal shape), I used a round cutter to cut a hole near the top. I thought it looked cute, like a birdhouse, and the kids could also peep into it.

Then I baked the pieces and let them cool completely. Then, I basically glued them together using royal icing. Royal icing can be made using egg whites or meringue powder. I had some meringue powder, so I used that, because with raw egg whites, there is always the risk of salmonella.

Anyway, I wanted the royal icing to be stiffer, so it would dry faster. I reduced the water, and it was so stiff that my hand-held mixer broke!! I had to continue whisking by hand!

After gluing the structure together, we get to the fun part; sticking on the candies! This is where you can let your imagination run wild and design the candy house of your dreams! :) Just pipe royal icing onto where you want your candies to go and stick on the sweets before the icing dries.

This is definitely a great pre-Christmas activity for the kids. Next year I hope to put in more effort and make some gumpaste decor like candy canes, which will make the houses even more gorgeous!

Anyway, here is the recipe for the gingerbread and also royal icing:



GINGERBREAD

350g plain flour
1-2 tsp ground ginger
1-2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
100g butter, softened
175g soft light brown sugar
1 egg
4 tbsp golden syrup or honey (use molasses if you want a darker, chewier gingerbread)

Sift and mix flour, ground ginger and cinnamon and bicarbonate of soda into a mixing bowl.

Rub in butter.

Add sugar and mix well.

Stir in syrup and egg.

Mix well to form a firm dough.
Roll to 5mm thickness and cut.
Bake on a greased and floured tray at 180 degrees Celsius for 10-25 minutes or until golden brown.

ROYAL ICING

Royal Icing Using Egg Whites:
2 large egg whites
2tsp lemon juice
3 cups (330g) icing sugar, sifted

Royal Icing Using Meringue Powder:
4 cups (440g) icing sugar
3 tbsp (30g) meringue powder
1/2tsp vanilla/ lemon/ almond extract
1/2-3/4 cup (120-180ml) warm water

Method:
Beat everything in a mixing bowl until stiff and spreadable.
Use more water if you want a runny icing and  less for stiffer icing.

Dessert tables

I recently discovered the website of "Sweet & Saucy", a wonderful bakery situated at Long Beach, California. They do weddings and parties for the rich and famous, like Tori Spelling and John Stamos! Besides having marvelous cakes, they also do mini desserts which are set up on gorgeous dessert tables! Go and have a look at the pictures on their website, it's really dreamy!

So I was totally inspired and wanted to try making small matching treats to go with my niece's "Fairy" cake. As usual, time was a factor for me, i.e. something I'm always short of! So, aside from the cake, I only managed to make some sugar cookies, cake balls and cupcakes.

Here are the pics:

Macarons

Gosh! Look at these? Aren't they the most precious cookies you've ever seen? The gorgeous colours and the perfectly smooth round mounds are simply exquisite! I found this pic from www.champagnemacarons.blogspot.com.

No, of course I did not make these perfect creations! They're just so breath-taking I wanted to share with my fellow sweets junkies. You can get the recipe here if you want to have a go.

These are macarons, a french almond cookie. From what I've read, they are rather challenging to make. But they're just so beautiful, I absolutely have to try making them one day.

When I do work up the courage, I will make them and you'll definitely see it here... unless of course they end up looking like blobs of poop, then I'll just pretend I never tried!! :P

*swoooon*
These are from www.savethedatewp.blogspot.com

Gingerbread Men Gift Sets

I've had a leftover batch of lebkuchen dough in my freezer for ages. I was over-ambitious the last time I made lebkuchen and whipped up double the recipe in one go. Only after baking the first portion, did I discover how tough the cookies were, and how the kids did not fancy them at all! Thus, I was left with one recipe of unbaked lebkuchen dough sitting in the freezer.

I was in a quandry, because if I turned the dough into cookies, I'd just be stuck with a whole batch of unwanted cookies. Yet I couldn't throw the prefectly good dough away. So I decided to mix that one recipe of lebkuchen with one recipe of sugar cookie dough, hoping that it would make the cookie softer and less spicy.

Well, thank goodness that idea worked and I ended up with another whole batch of gingerbread men to decorate!

This time I decided to try royal icing, because I had a can of Wilton meringue powder which I had yet to try. (You can use raw egg white too if you are not worried about Salmonella.) I was very pleased that whipping up the royal icing proved simple enough.

Here's the recipe: (I only made half portion because I didn't need much)

Royal Icing

3 tbsp meringue powder
4 cups (1 lb) icing sugar
6 tablespoons warm water*

(makes about 3 cups of icing)

Beat all ingredients until icing forms stiff peaks (7-10 mins at low speed with a heavy-duty mixer, or 10-12 mins at high speed with hand-held mixer)

*For stiffer icing, use 1 tablespoon less water.


I was extremely happy with how simple it was to make and use royal icing. I love its light texture which made it easy to pipe, and its perfect whiteness is gorgeous. It also dried up real fast. The only downside is if you use a lot, it's taste and texture when dry it's all that great. It also doesn't have a shiny finish like cookie glaze. However, I still think royal icing is the best for outlines and attaching candy and other decorations to the cookie.

All dressed up and ready to go.

Christmas gift sets awaiting delivery.

Gingerbread men

So here are my gingerbread men! I made them specially for the kids. The recipe I used produced soft, cake-like cookies. I didn't use much ginger here, for fear it would deter the kids!



Anyway, this is the simple gingerbread recipe:

GINGERBREAD MEN

• 350g plain flour
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
• 100g butter
  
• 175g soft light brown sugar
• 1 egg
• 4 tablespoons golden syrup

Makes about 20 biscuits.

Put the flour, ginger and soda into a bowl and rub in the butter.

Add sugar and stir in the syrup and egg to make a firm dough.

Refrigerate for half an hour.

Roll out to about 5mm thick and cut out your gingerbread men.

Bake at 190 C on greased baking trays (spaced out, as they will spread) for 10 to 15 mins until golden brown.

Leave to firm up for a couple of minutes before removing from tray and placing on a wire rack to cool.

I decorated the cookies using coloured cream cookie dough, which you pipe onto the dough cut-outs before baking. This is the same method I used for the Lebkuchen and I find it very useful. You can get the recipe here.

Last year, I made some Christmas cookies using a sugar cookie recipe and just added in a teaspoonful or two of ground ginger. It produced a sweeter and crunchier cookie. If you like a cookie with more bite, you should try it.

I used cookie icing to decorate, which was so much work and really not worth all the effort, if you ask me. I'll admit it does look nicer with shinier and brighter colours, but it is such a time-consuming method.

So anyway, here's to more Christmas baking! Cheers!

Lebkuchen

Last night I made some Lebkuchen, a type of spiced German Christmas cookie. I got the recipe from The Brown Eyed Baker here:

Lebkuchen
Yield: 18 cookies
For the Cookies:
3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, plus extra for kneading
1¼ teaspoons ground nutmeg
1¼ teaspoons ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon ground cloves
½ teaspoon ground allspice
1 egg
¾ cup light brown sugar
½ cup honey
½ cup molasses
For the Glaze:
1 cup confectioner’s sugar
2 Tablespoons water
1 Tablespoon lemon juice
1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Grease two baking sheets or line them with parchment paper.
2. Sift together the flour, nutmeg, cinnamon, cloves and allspice. Set aside.
3. Beat the egg and sugar together on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Scrape down the bowl.
4. Beat in the honey and molasses until thoroughly combined.
5. On low speed, stir in the flour mixture until just combined.
6. Turn the dough out from the bowl onto a well-floured surface. Knead the dough, adding more flour as kneaded, until a stiff dough is formed.
7. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and chill until firm, about 2 hours or overnight.
8. On a well-floured surface, roll out the dough into a 9×12-inch rectangle. Cut the dough into 18 3×2-inch rectangles. Bake for 10-12 minutes.
9. Transfer the cookies to a wire rack and let cool. Whisk together the confectioner’s sugar, water and lemon juice and brush or spread on top of the cookies.
10. Allow the glaze to firm, and then store the cookies in an airtight container at room temperature.

I love chewy, spiced Christmas cookies, but these turned out a bit too hard for the kids. My jaw became sore halfway through a cookie! I must have over kneaded them. I do like the homely taste however, and it was best when warm, straight out from the oven, then it was still soft. They made the whole house smell heavenly while in the oven!

The recipe calls for a sugar glaze on the finished cookie. However, I do not like waiting for glazes or cookie icing to dry. In this humid country of ours, it takes ages, and time is not one of the luxuries which I have in abundance!

Therefore, I looked for an alternative to cookie icing and found this, a cookie decorating dough which you pipe on before baking the cookies.


Coloured Cream dough

• 1/4 cup butter, softened
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 6 tablespoons light cream or half-and-half
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• Paste food coloring

Choose the tip you want.

1. Beat softened butter in a small bowl on medium speed for 30 seconds. Add granulated sugar and beat until combined. Beat in light cream. Add all-purpose flour and beat until smooth. Divide dough into 2 to 3 portions. Color each portion with paste food coloring.
2. Place each color in a decorating bag fitted with a writing, rose, or star tip. The dough must be stiff for the designs to hold their shape, so don't be tempted to add liquid. Pipe one color on all the unbaked cookies on the cookie sheet, then do the same with the second color, then with a third, if desired. Bake as cookie recipe directs. Once baked, the piped-on designs are durable and the cookies store and freeze well.

I found this to work quite well and will definitely use this method again.

Another thing I have to warn you about is greasing the tray. Since I used a non-stick tray, I thought I could skip the greasing part. When I tried removing the cookies after they cooled down a bit, I found that they were stuck on fast like cement! It was really hard to remove them and I had to use of lot of force! It must be all that sticky molasses and honey that forms the super glue effect!

So take my advice, grease your tray plenty!

Happy baking!

Halloween sugar cookies

Today I baked sugar cookies. I used these Wilton 101 cookie cutters. They have many Halloween shapes like a cat, a witch, a haunted house, a ghost, two sizes of pumpkins, a bat and a moon. I used the ghost and small pumpkin mainly because I didn't want to use too much black colouring for things like the black cat and the black bat. A pink kitty just won't have the same Halloween effect... :)



Anyway, when rolling out the dough, I placed the dough in between 2 sheets of cling film (a trick I saw on tv). It made the process so, so much easier! I would recommend everyone to do this, as there is no more sticking to the table or the rolling pin. It makes all the frustration and hair-pulling disappear!

After the cookies were baked and cooled, I frosted them with cookie icing. I used a thicker icing to pipe out the outline. Then I flooded the inside with thinned icing. After that I added the details with black icing. This was all quite a bit of work and there was also quite some waiting; for the icing to dry.

The cookies turned out very pretty, but it took a lot of time and effort! So, I don't think I'll be using my cookie cutters for quite a while!

Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies

With the lack of birthdays in the near horizon, I thought I'd bake something easy with which the kids could 'help'. They haven't 'helped' in the kitchen for a while because birthday cakes are too delicate to have too many cooks! So, I decided to make cookies since they can't go wrong much! Seeing as the kids like chocolate chips, and I had plenty of yucky oatmeal gathering dust in the cupboard, I went with chocolate chip oatmeal cookies.

It was a hit with the kids. At least there was plenty of nutritious oatmeal in it, so I didn't feel too guilty when they gulped down dozens at a time... 

Here's the batter which the kids helped mix.
 

All in a row, ready for the oven...  

Smells heavenly... 

Here's a jar for Cousin Amanda. I bought these lovely glass jars simply because they were nice! Now I have a reason to actually use them!

Delicious with a tall glass of cold milk.




Here's the recipe I used:

Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies

1 cup packed brown sugar
1 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
2 tablespoon milk
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 1/2 cups uncooked oats
2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

Heat oven to 190 degrees Celsius.
In a large mixing bowl, combine sugars and butter and beat until light and fluffy.
Add eggs, milk and vanilla and mix till well blended.
Add flour, baking soda and salt.
Beat at low speed until soft dough forms.
Stir in oats and chocolate chips.
Drop teaspoonfuls of dough onto ungreased cookie sheets.
Bake for 9-10 minutes.
Let cool for 2 minutes before removing from cookie sheets.
Cool completely before storing.

Warning: There might not be any left to store!

Sugar cookies

Last night I baked some sugar cookies which I need for an upcoming "project". They were pretty easy and straight-forward to make. The hardest part was lifting the cookie shapes onto the tray without distorting them. Here's the recipe I used.

Ingredients:

• 1 bar (225g) unsalted butter, softened
• 1 egg
• 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
• 4 cups self-raising flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
  

Makes: About 3 dozen cookies.

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 400°F/200C. In mixing bowl, cream butter with sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in egg and extract. Mix flour and salt; add to butter mixture 1 cup at a time, mixing after each addition. Wrap dough in cling film and chill in refrigerator for half an hour. Divide dough into 2 balls. On a floured surface, roll each ball into a circle approximately 12 in. wide and 1/8 in. thick. Dip cookie cutter in flour before each use. Bake cookies on ungreased cookie sheet 6-7 minutes or until cookies are lightly browned.
I only used half the dough and freezed the rest for future use. I had more than I needed so I made the rest into small cookies for the kids to bring to school today, since I forgot to buy bread anyway :) I got to use my sprinkles and the kids loved them.

The photos are really crappy because it was late at night, so the lighting wasn't good and I was not bothered to try harder because my bed was beckoning!