Almost Famous Amos Chocolate Chip Cookies

Baked these chocolate chip cookies at the request of my youngest. He asked for chocolate chip cookies "like the ones at Famous Amos" when I was baking the Afghan Cookies & reminded me again when we passed by a Famous Amos outlet..... how can anyone miss the irresistible aroma of its cookies..

So what better time to bake these Almost Famous Chocolate Chip Cookies, highly recommended by Rima. Had wanted to try this recipe since I saw it long time ago.... My cookies turned out rather crunchy since I waited for the cookies to turn golden brown before taking the tray out of the oven. Taste wise, I find them quite sweet.... wonder if it would have been milder if I had used oats instead of Nestum.... But one thing for sure, they would definitely be better if I had not omitted the nuts, but then my customer didn't want nuts in his cookies. Anyway, I certainly will try this recipe again, with oats & nuts, of course!

 

Almost Famous Amos Chocolate Chip Cookies
Sourced & adapted from Bisous A Toi.

250g salted butter, softened - I used unsalted
200g light brown sugar
1/4 tsp salt - I used 1/2 tsp
1/2 tsp coffee oil (this is the one that gives the cookie its distinctive fragrance)
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 cup oats, processed to bits in a chopper - I used  Nestum
1/4 cup ground almond
1/2 cup of your favourite nuts, chopped finely (optional) - I didn't use
1 pack of Nestle Tollhouse semi-sweet chocolate chips or chocolate chunks - I used Hersheys
300g self-raising flour

1. At least 2 hours or the night before, beat egg with vanilla & coffee oil to infuse. If done the night before, refrigerate & then bring it to room temperature before mixing.
2. Preheat oven to 160C.
3. Beat butter, sugar & salt to combine. Beat in egg and stir in the processed oats, ground almond, chopped nuts (if used) and the chocolate chips / chunks. Sift flour and fold it in.
4. For small cookies, place half tsp dough, spaced slightly apart on the cookie sheet and bake for 9 to 10 minutes. For large cookies, place rounded tbsp of the dough spaced apart on the cookie sheet and bake for 20 to 22 minutes. (I placed 10g dough for each cookie & baked for about 20 minutes.)
5. Cool completely before serving.  To allow the flavour and fragrance to develop further, store cookies in an airtight container overnight before serving.

Tres Leches Cake

Hi everyone! How's your day? Mine has been a rush Labour Day holiday....... now still rushing to complete this post fast so that I can meet the dateline for Bake Along which ends in about 2 hours. I should be able to make it....

Made this Latin American cake this afternoon & managed to take some shots with my compact camera (coz the memory card for the dslr is missing... long story..) before rushing to the hospital to visit my dad where I also met up with my cousins from kl. Came home just after nine, had dinner & started editing the photos... I've been taking longer than usual editing the pictures ever since we bought a new iMac. I usually use PhotoScape for editing but I'm not able to use that with iMac. So, until I decide on another software,  I'll have to make do with the editing using the netbook.... not an ideal thing given the failing eyesight.

Now, about this cake.. I really wanted to try baking this cake because I was quite curious with the outcome, texture & taste, given the not-so-normal way to finish a cake... I'm referring to the soaking part. It's basically a sponge cake soaked in milk, lots of it! I decided to use only 50% of the recommended proportion of milk mixture for soaking, yet I think this cake is just too sweet to my liking. If I do make this again, I'll  certainly do some tweaking to the proportion. Whatever it is, I'm glad I baked it. If not for this baking event, I may not have come across this cake or thought of attempting to bake it..... 

Ok... here's the changes I made..

1. I made half the recipe & used a 6x9 inch pan. I lined & greased the pan.

2. I replaced the heavy cream with low-fat milk & halved the recommended amount of the milk mixture for soaking. Which means, for half recipe, I only used 1/4 can each of evaporated & condensed milk & 1/16 cup of low-fat milk.

3. I served the cake with chocolate ganache (mine is quite watery though..) instead of the icing.

4. I didn't wait for the cake to cool down before piercing the holes & pouring the milk mixture. I did it right after taking the cake out of the oven.

Tres Leches Cake
Recipe by The Pioneer Woman.

Ingredients
1 cup All-purpose Flour (I used cake flour.)
1-1/2 teaspoon Baking Powder
1/4 teaspoon Salt
5 whole Eggs
1 cup Sugar, Divided
1 teaspoon Vanilla
1/3 cup Milk
1 can Evaporated Milk
1 can Sweetened, Condensed Milk
1/4 cup Heavy Cream

FOR THE ICING:
1 pint Heavy Cream, For Whipping
3 Tablespoons Sugar
Preparation Instructions


Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 9 x 13 inch pan liberally until coated.

Combine flour, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl. Separate eggs.

Beat egg yolks with 3/4 cup sugar on high speed until yolks are pale yellow. Stir in milk and vanilla. Pour egg yolk mixture over the flour mixture and stir very gently until combined.

Beat egg whites on high speed until soft peaks form. With the mixer on, pour in remaining 1/4 cup sugar and beat until egg whites are stiff but not dry.

Fold egg white mixture into the batter very gently until just combined. Pour into prepared pan and spread to even out the surface.

Bake for 35 to 45 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Turn cake out onto a rimmed platter and allow to cool.

Combine condensed milk, evaporated milk, and heavy cream in a small pitcher. When cake is cool, pierce the surface with a fork several times. Slowly drizzle all but about 1 cup of the milk mixture—try to get as much around the edges of the cake as you can.

Allow the cake to absorb the milk mixture for 30 minutes. To ice the cake, whip 1 pint heavy cream with 3 tablespoons of sugar until thick and spreadable.
Spread over the surface of the cake. Decorate cake with whole or chopped maraschino cherries. Cut into squares and serve.

I'm submitting this entry to Free & Easy Bake Along event #43 (Theme - Tres Leches Cake) hosted by Joyce from Kitchen Flavours, Lena from Frozen Wings and Zoe from Bake for Happy Kids.

Afghan Cookies

I first bought a bottle of Afghan Cookies many years ago from my niece's bakery in Seremban. Fell in love with the cookies & had baked them using recipes from 2 different books. Little did I realise, until recently when I was googling for the recipe, the cookie is actually a New Zealand traditional ...

I haven't baked the cookies for sometime, so decided to bake them but this time, used the recipe from About.com. Great recipe for a simple yet heavenly-tasting cookie! It's crunchy texture & not-too-sweet flavour makes it great when eaten on its own, without the icing. I topped mine with melted white chocolate & sliced almonds.

Afghan Cookies
Recipe from Australian/New Zealand Food About.com.

Ingredients:
200g butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup castor sugar
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (I used top flour.)
3 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder (I used Valrhona.)
1 1/2 cups unsweetened corn flakes

Icing: (I didn't use.)
1 cup icing sugar
2 Tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
3 Tbsp water
1/4 cup flaked almonds (optional)

Preparation:

1. Pre-heat the oven to 350F (180C). Line a baking sheet with baking paper. Set aside.
2. Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
3. Sift together the flour and cocoa powder and mix into butter mixture with a wooden spoon. Fold in cornflakes and don't worry if they crumble.
4. Roll or press 1 1/2 teaspoonfuls of the dough into balls and flatten them slightly. Place them about 2 inches apart on the baking sheet.
5. Bake in the oven for 10-15 minutes. Remove from oven and cool on a wire rack. 
6. Prepare the icing by combining the icing sugar, unsweetened cocoa powder and water in a bowl. Mix well until the mixture is free of lumps and of a creamy consistency.
7. Spoon a little icing on each cookie and then decorate with flaked almonds.

I'm linking this post to Little Thumbs up organised by Zoe (Bake for Happy Kids) and Mui Mui (My Little Favourite DIY) and hosted by Esther of Copycake Kitchen.