Afghan Cookies, again.....

Seriously, I don't remember when I made these Afghan Cookies... The only thing I remember is that the recipe is the same as the one I used in April. Loved these cookies a lot... if you are a chocoholic, I would highly recommend you bake them!

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 sugar - for dusting

Method:

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. 
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. Dust icing sugar & store in airtight container.

I'm submitting this post to the Aspiring Bakers No 36: Choc-a-Cookie (October 2013) event, hosted by Genie of Honeybee916 Food.

Chewy Peanut Butter-Chocolate Chip Cookies

I'm busy as a bee as there are so many tight datelines to meet at work. Thank God my youngest son's exams are over... that's a relief, at least for a while, until I get to see the report book...  Anyway, tonight, I'm posting 2 recipes of cookies because I'm trying to meet the dateline for Aspiring Bakers event on chocolate cookies. 

These Chewy Peanut Butter-Chocolate Chip Cookies  were actually made by my son for his practice session in preparation for his year-end Home Economics  practical assessment. He searched for the recipe himself... my role was to get the ingredients ready, demonstrate, supervise & advise... He actually made 2 batches, just to be sure that he could bake them without any hiccups. He said the cookies turned out well during the exam except that they were quite fragile. I suspect they were undercooked because of the oven temperature. Anyway, it was not a problem at all since his classmates helped to finish up all the cookies..... thank you boys!

Chewy Peanut Butter-Chocolate Chip Cookies
Source: Confessions of a Foodie Bride.

Ingredients:
1 stick (125g) butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup smooth peanut butter
1/2 cup dark brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla essence
1 cup flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups chocolate chips

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 deg F (190 deg C) and line a baking sheet with parchment or a baking mat.
2. Cream the butter and peanut butter on medium high for 1 minute.
3. Add sugars and beat at med-high for another minute. Add egg and vanilla and mix until smooth.
4. Add flour, baking soda and salt on low speed until thoroughly combined. Mix in chocolate chips (the dough will be quite soft).
5. Chill dough for 15-20 minutes.
6. Drop the dough by the small scoopfuls onto a lined baking sheet.
7. Bake for 10-12 minutes until edges are golden brown. For a crispier cookie, allow the entire cookie to brown. Let cookies cool on baking sheet for 10 minutes and then transfer to a rack to cool completely.

I'm submitting this post to the Aspiring Bakers No 36: Choc-a-Cookie (October 2013) event, hosted by Genie of Honeybee916 Food.

Mee Siam Mamak

Lunch on Friday was Mee Siam Mamak. This Indian Muslim version of Mee Siam is not as commonly available as the Malay version. Naturally, it's usually served by the Indian hawkers, usually those selling Indian Rojak. 

I decided to cook this dish to use up the leftover chives in the fridge. It is quite similar to the Malay Mee Siam except it's richer  because of the coconut milk added. Another difference is in the way the beehoon is prepared. While the Malay version requires that the beehoon be fried with some spices, the Mamak version just needs the beehoon to be cooked in boiling water mixed with turmeric. That's so much simpler!

Mee Siam Mamak 
Recipe by Mdm Gayah Samon.
Source: EATS by Hedy Khoo,  The New Paper On Sunday (7 October 2012)

Ingredients:
400g dried beehoon ( I used brown rice beehoon.)
1/2 tsp turmeric
1/2 tsp salt (I added.)

100g raw peanuts
200ml coconut cream
3 pieces asam keping/gelugur
85g sugar
2 litres water (I used only 1.5 litres.)
salt to taste (You may not need this since the tau cheo is already quite salty.)
6 tbsp cooking oil

Spicy mix:
10 dried chilies
3 purple onions
6 garlic cloves
120g udang geragau kering (dried shrimp)
120g tau cheo (fermented soya bean), rinsed

Garnish:
5 limes, halved
5 hardboiled eggs. halved
6 stalks koo chye (garlic chives) - cut into small pieces (about 1cm long)
5 pieces tau pok (fried beancurd puffs), toasted & cut into 1-cm squares

Method:

1. Heat 2 tbsp oil & fry peanuts over low heat for 10 minutes or until cooked. Grind coarsely & set aside. (You may set aside some before grinding for garnishing.)
2. Grind the ingredients for the spice mix into a smooth paste. (I didn't grind the tau cheo. Instead, I just mashed it coarsely.)
3. Heat remaining oil & fry the spice paste until fragrant & the oil surfaces.
4. Add the ground peanuts & fry a little more.
5. Add the two litres (I used 1.5 l.) of water. Stir & bring to a boil.
6. Lower the heat & stir in the coconut cream. Allow the mixture to simmer for another five minutes.
7. Now prepare the beehoon. Fill a pot with enough water to cover the beehoon. Bring to boil & add half a tsp of turmeric powder & salt. Add in the beehoon & boil for two or three minutes until soft.  (I soaked the beehoon in cold water first. When it's already soft, I boiled a pot of water & added the turmeric & salt, then I blanched the beehoon.) Strain & set aside.
8. To serve, put some of the boiled heehoon in a bowl, add the mee siam gravy. Garnish with a halved hardboiled egg, some tau pok pieces, halved lime, garlic chives & some ground peanuts.