Chocolate Chip Cookies

If you've been thinking of baking chocolate chip cookies but you're not sure which recipe to use, I highly recommend you this recipe. The cookies are light, crunchy & super addictive. My family  & I couldn't stop munching on them, so I had to hide the bottle. The recipe also yields lots of cookies, I got more than a hundred of them. Thank you Rima for sharing your priceless recipe....

Chocolate Chip Cookies 

Ingredients:

400g self-raising flour (sifted)

230g castor sugar

250g butter (I used unsalted & added 1/2 tsp of salt.)

1 tsp vanilla essence
1 tsp instant coffee powder (I added), mixed with the chilled water below

2 tsp chilled water

1 egg

a drop of yellow colouring

50g almond nib (toasted)

100g chocolate chips - I used Hershey's mini chips. (You may replace this with M&Ms, raisins or crushed Oreos.)

Method:

1. Using stand mixer, cream butter & sugar till pale. 
2. In another bowl, whisk egg & yellow colouring with a fork. 
3. Add in egg mixure, vanilla & chilled water till incorporated. 
4. Add sifted flour a little at a time till well combined. 
5. Add in chocolate chips & almond nibs & mix well. 
6. Spoon dough onto a lined baking pan.
7. Bake in preheated oven at 180 deg C for 20 minutes. 

Recipe by Bisousatoi.

Semolina Cake

Time really flies  when you're having a good time.... The school holidays are over!! Sigh.. I thought I could update this blog more often but clearly I had failed. I hope I'll be able to make up with more posts these coming weeks.... I'm pretty confident. I've already started baking cookies for Hari Raya & all the three cookies I baked on Friday were new recipes. So those recipes coming up in the next few days...

This sugee cake was baked more than three weeks ago for a tahlil gathering at my cousin's place. I had wanted to bake a sugee cake for a long time but, I don't know why, I kept putting the idea off.. So I thought it would a good time to bake one. I decided to use Petite Nyonya's recipe as it looked quite simple... at least I didn't have to soak the semolina in the butter overnight like in some recipes. And best of all, it tastes sooo good... As my cousin said, it's the perfect sugee cake... very moist, good texture & easy to make! She gave this verdict after tasting the one I made & making three batches for another tahlil held at a mosque.
The cake you see in the pictures has actually been stored in the fridge for two weeks. It looks more dense & oily & it doesn't taste as good as when it's freshly baked. So my advice is you consume the cake within a few days as its texture & taste deteriorates over time.

Semolina/Sugee Cake

Ingredients:
140g cake flour
1/2 tsp baking powder (I used 1 tsp)
100g semolina
1/4 tsp salt
4 eggs
100ml fresh/UHT milk
2 tsp vanilla extract/essence
250g butter, at room temperature
200g sugar (I used only 170g)
2 tbsp honey
2 tbsp almond powder (My cousin added this when she baked hers.)

Method:

1. Sift flour and baking powder into a bowl and stir in semolina, almond powder (if using) and salt. Mix well.
2. Beat eggs, milk and vanilla essence together in a bowl.
3. Cream butter, sugar and honey till light and fluffy. Gradually trickle in egg mixture, beating constantly. Mix in flour mixture on low speed and stir till well combined.
4. Spoon the batter into an 8-inch cake tray lined with baking paper.
5. Bake for 45 minutes at 150 deg C or until an inserted cake tester comes out clean.
6. Cool cake for 15 minutes, then remove it from the mould and leave to cool completely on a wire rack.
7. Decorate as you like or have it as it is. Best served with a cup of tea.

Source: Petite Nyonya's Kitchen.

Apam Solo

Last Sunday, I made a day trip to Shah Alam to visit the family of my cousin who passed away after battling cancer for about one and a half years. My heart goes out to his family, especially his wife and five young sons. May Allah give them the strength and patience to get through this tragic time. Ameen..

Right after the afternoon prayers, a prayer session (tahlil) for my late cousin was held. Besides family and friends, the neighbours, including the neighbourhood imam, were also present. What strikes me, from my observation and feedback from my cousins, is the community spirit of gotong-royong which is so much alive although the neighbourhood is relatively new and, I believe, majority of the residents are young families. That helped my late cousin's family a lot as both of them are quite new to the area. My cousin was a Singaporean who, before receiving treatment for his cancer in Kuala Lumpur, was working in Singapore and travelled up north every weekend to join his family. His wife who is from the East Coast works in Shah Alam and looks after the five sons. Soon after the neighbours received news of my cousin's passing, a few neighbours approached and informed his family that they would help with the funeral arrangement. They also helped with the tahlil sessions for several days, including the preparation of food. 

For the tahlil session on Sunday, a type of apam with red bean filling was served. I had not eaten that type of apam before, so when I first tasted it, I liked it a lot as it not only tasted good but it also looked pretty. After googling for the recipe on my return to Singapore, I found out that it is called Apam Bengawan Solo or just Apam Solo. It tastes somewhat like pau except that it's softer and spongier as the batter is quite watery. I would highly recommend you to try this recipe especially if you like traditional kuih. 

Apam Solo

COCONUT FILLING

Ingredients:

70g palm sugar

15g sugar

70 ml water

1 pandan leaf, torn

150g freshly-grated coconut

1/2 tbsp plain flour

1/8 tsp salt

Method:

1.     Combine palm sugar, sugar, water & pandan leaves in a saucepan until the syrup reaches a boil.

2.     Add in grated coconut & salt. Mix thoroughly.

3.     When the mixture is almost dry, add in flour & mix well.

4.     Remove from fire & leave to cool. Remove the pandan leaf before using the filling.

BATTER

Ingredients:

250g plain flour

1 tsp instant yeast

90g granulated sugar

125 ml evaporated milk

300 ml water

a pinch of salt

colouring - I used red & green.

Method:

1. Combine all ingredients except colouring & mix until well-blended. Then strain the batter.
2. Divide batter into 3 parts. Leave 1 part plain, colour 1 part red & the  other green. Cover & leave to rise for about 40 minutes.
3. In the meantime, grease moulds. Divide the filling & form into small balls. I divided into balls of 4g each. Set aside.
4. Prepare steamer. Pour the plain batter into the moulds. Put filling & then pour the red & green batter to the brim. Do until finish.
5. Steam on medium fire for about 15-20 minutes.
6. Remove from steamer & leave to cool. Once cooled,  remove the apam from the moulds.

Adapted from recipe shared by Seri Kandi Tanah Jauhar.

Notes:

1. The above recipe is half the recipe shared by Sk & it yields about 50 small pieces.
2. Besides coconut filling, you can also use red bean or savoury filling.
3. Since I used a small steamer, I had to steam the apam in a few batches. As a result, the last batch didn't turn out pretty as the center of the apam sank after it's removed from the steamer. I think the batter might have been overproofed. So my advice is you steam the apam in just one or two batches.