SweetSpot, Singapore

SweetSpot is located at the flashy Marina Bay Sands hotel, opposite Ku De Ta, the "finest entertainment destination in South East Asia". Right.

                                     

SweetSpot has a wide array of pretty-looking treats. Their macarons, mille-feuilles and sacher tortes didn't quite appeal to me, so I opted for something more down-to-earth: a chocolate and hazelnut cookie.

At $2.80 a piece, this is considered expensive by Singapore standards. And boy, was it a waste of money after taking the first bite. The cookie was limp and lifeless. It tasted as if someone had left the lid off the cookie jar for too long. The cookie wasn't freshly baked.

 Sad cookie.

Happy salesman.

After this experience, I don't think I'll try any of SweetSpot's other offerings, no matter how pretty-looking they are.

SweetSpot
Marina Bay Sands Hotel
10 Bayfront Avenue
Lobby Level, Tower 3
Singapore
http://www.marinabaysands.com/singapore-restaurants/quick-eats/sweetspot/

Everything but the kitchen sink

I've finally found a way of getting rid of my unwanted snacks and tidbits in the house. I've been wanting to try out this recipe for awhile but always chickened out at the last minute due to failures I've read about and the strange addition of potato chips in cookies.

Nonetheless, I gave it a go and the cookies turned out to be pretty good. They were crispy, not too sweet and had a pleasant caramel-ly aftertaste.

My version of Momofuku's Compost Cookies had chocolate-coated peanut brittle, rocky road, Coco Pops O's, ready salted potato chips, smokey capsicum flavoured grain crisps and pretzels.

Momofuku Milk Bar Compost Cookie
(Adapted from Momofuku for 2 and Amateur Gourmet)

1/2 cup Butter

1/2 cup Sugar

1/4 cup + 2 Tbsp Light Brown Sugar

1/2 Tbsp Corn Syrup [Note: I left this out; not because I'm against corn syrup, I just didn't have it. The cookies came out fine, though may have had a nicer sheen with the syrup.]

1/2 tsp Vanilla Extract

1 Large Eggs

3/4 + 2 Tbsp cups AP Flour

1 tsp Baking Powder

1/2 tsp Baking Soda

1 tsp Kosher Salt

3/4 cups of your favorite baking ingredients

3/4 cups your favorite snack foods

In a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, cream butter, sugars and corn syrup on medium high for 2-3 minutes until fluffy and pale yellow in color. Scrape down the sides of the mixing bowl with a spatula.

On a lower speed, add eggs and vanilla to incorporate. Increase mixing speed to medium-high and start a timer for 10 minutes. During this time the sugar granules will fully dissolve, the mixture will become an almost pale white color and your creamed mixture will double in size.

When time is up, on a lower speed, add the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Mix 45-60 sec just until your dough comes together and all remnants of dry ingredients have incorporated. Do not walk away from your mixer during this time or you will risk over mixing the dough. Scrape down the sides of the mixing bowl with a spatula.

On same low speed, add in the hodgepodge of your favorite baking ingredients and mix for 30-45 sec until they evenly mix into the dough. Add in your favorite snack foods last, paddling again on low speed until they are just incorporated.

Using a 6oz ice cream scoop, portion cookie dough onto a parchment lined sheetpan.

Wrap scooped cookie dough tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate for a minimum of 1 hour or up to 1 week.

DO NOT BAKE your cookies from room temperature or they will not hold their shape.

Heat the conventional oven to 400F. (350F in a convection oven)

When the oven reads 400F, arrange your chilled cookie dough balls on a parchment or silpat-lined sheetpan a minimum of 4″ apart in any direction.

Bake 9-11 min. While in the oven, the cookies will puff, crackle and spread.

At 9 min the cookies should be browned on the edges and just beginning to brown towards the center. Leave the cookies in the oven for the additional minutes if these colors don’t match up and your cookies stills seem pale and doughy on the surface.

Cool the cookies completely on the sheet pan before transferring to a plate or an airtight container or tin for storage. At room temp, cookies will keep fresh 5 days. In the freezer, cookies will keep fresh 1 month.

It's that time of the year again

Chinese New Year is celebrated in pretty much the same way as Christmas: a lot of festivities, a lot of family gatherings and a lot of food. This year on the week leading up to the start of the Chinese New Year period, I decided to make two batches of cookies using cornflakes. One is a traditional CNY cookie recipe, while the other is a less-traditional cookie recipe that is famously sold in Momofuku Milk Bar, a place I have been raving about.

Cornflakes ready for crushing

Two batches of cornflake cookies. The batch on the right had more cookies than the one on the left.

Cornflake and Raisin Cookies

(Recipe adapted from I Bake For You)

Ingredients:

• 175gm butter
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 1/4 cup plain flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 cup milk powder
• 3-4 cups fairly crushed cornflakes (5 cups before crushing)
• 1/3 cup sultanas/raisins

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 180C.
2. In one mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
3. Add eggs, vanilla essence and milk powder. Mix.
4. In another bowl, sift flour and baking powder . Mix in crushed cornflakes and sultanas.
5. Add in egg/butter/sugar mixture, and mix until combined. (If mixture is too dry, you'll have to add more softened butter or even margarine.)
6. Roll into balls and place onto lined baking tray. Press down gently for a flat surface.
7. Bake for 12mins or until golden brown.
8. Cool on wire rack before storing in air-tight containers.

Makes 49 cookies.

Copycat Momofuku Cornflake-Marshmallow-Chocolate Chip Cookies

(Recipe adapted from The Cookbook Chronicles)

Ingredients:

• 2 sticks unsalted butter at room temperature (227gm)
• 1 1/4 cup packed dark brown sugar
• 1/3 cup granulated sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1 1/2 tsp kosher salt (plus more for sprinkling)
• 3/4 cup oatmeal [I used rolled oats]
• 1 1/4 cup lightly crushed cornflakes (about 1 1/2 cup cornflakes before crushing)
• 2/3 cup chocolate chips
• about 3/4 cup mini marshmallows

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees. In a mixing bowl, beat together the butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar until light and fluffy, about 2-3 minutes on medium speed. Add the eggs and vanilla extract, and beat until combined.
2. Add the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt and beat on low speed, just so the dry ingredients become incorporated. With a wooden spoon, mix in the oatmeal, crushed cornflakes, and chocolate chips.
3. (If you have time and would like the cookies to spread a little less, refrigerate the dough for two hours.)
4. On a parchment-lined baking sheet, scoop up and roll the dough into golf ball-sized spheres. (Six will fit comfortably on one pan–give them room to spread!) Lightly press down 4 mini marshmallows in the center of each ball of dough. [I mixed in the marshmallows with the dough] Sprinkle tops with a touch more salt. Repeat with the remaining dough.
5. Bake for 9-10 minutes. The cookies will still look soft in the middle when you take them out of the oven. Allow them to cool directly on the tray for a few minutes before moving them onto a platter.

Makes 20 cookies. [I made about palm-sized cookies]

Chrismukkah

...and Christmas is over for another year. Zombie sugar cookie is bidding adieu to Christmas 2010.



Photo by Esthel Kim.


Sugar cookie recipe from Baking Powders.

Macawrongs

I am back from my much-needed trip to Melbourne and I have returned $150 poorer and 2kg heavier. But that is what holidays are about - shopping and eating yourself silly and Melbourne is the place to do just that. Aside from spending on clothes and stopping at every cupcake shop I saw in the city, I made a batch of macarons for the very first time.

Result? They were kinda fail. Despite reading articles about it, my first attempt at macaron-making wasn't very successful.

Regardless, it tasted fantastic. My friend (hi Janne!) from Melbourne and I made two types of filling: salty peanut butter and salted caramel.

French Macarons

(Recipe adapted from Wives with Knives)

Ingredients:

• 225 grams powdered sugar
• 125 grams almond flour 
• 110 grams egg whites (3-4) left at room temperature for 1-2 days before using
• 30 grams superfine granulated sugar
• food colouring (optional)

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 150 degrees C.
2. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
3. Using a digital scale, measure the powdered sugar and almond flour.  Sift the powdered sugar and almond meal with a medium sieve to remove any large or coarse bits.  
4. Measure the egg whites with the digital scale and place in the bowl of an electric mixer with the whip attachment.  Beat the egg whites and a pinch of salt on medium high speed until they form soft peaks.  Gradually, in small additions, add the granulated sugar and continue to beat until stiff peaks form.  I beat the mixture about 3-4 minutes.  When the egg whites are glossy, add food colouring and combine well.
5. Add about 1/3 of the almond/powdered sugar mixture to the egg whites and gently fold in.  Add another third and fold, and finally add the last third.  Keep folding until the mixture is well combined and falls in a slow ribbon from the spatula. Don't overmix.
6. Using a pastry bag with a large round tip, pipe the mixture onto a lined cookie sheet into approximately 1-1/2 inch disks.  
7. After piping, tap the baking sheet on the counter to release any air bubbles, then allow the macarons to set at room temperature for 1 to 2 hours before baking.  You should be able to touch the top and not have it stick to your finger.
8. Bake at 150 degrees C for 12 - 16 minutes. Slide the macarons with the parchment off of the cookie sheet and allow to cool on the counter.  

Salty Peanut Butter Filling

(Recipe adapted from Cannelle et Vanille)

Ingredients:

• 125 grams creamy peanut butter
• 70 grams powdered sugar
• 25 grams softened butter
• 25 grams heavy cream
• 5 grams vanilla extract
• 3 grams fine sea salt

Method:

1. Cream all ingredients together for a smooth filling.

Salted Caramel Filling

(Recipe adapted from Syrup and Tang)

Ingredients:

• 50 g sugar
• 23 g cream
• 35 g butter, cold, in cubes

Method:

1. Place one third of the sugar in a small saucepan and heat very gently. After some time it will suddenly start to melt and go brown.
2. As soon as the sugar is liquid, add another third of the dry sugar and melt, stirring gently.
3. Repeat with the remaining sugar.
4. When the liquid sugar has reached a rich caramel colour (perhaps very soon after melting), add the cream in a thin stream. The caramel will bubble vigorously, so be careful.
5. Stir and measure the temperature promptly. When the caramel reaches 108-110 C (this can happen very quickly!), remove from the heat and immediately add the butter.
6. Stir well (or use a handmixer) until the caramel is smooth and has cooled somewhat.
7. Refrigerate the caramel. It will firm up after an hour or two.

Macarons

A result of procrastination

Procrastination and general restlessness has led me to these delicious morsels. Whilst taking a break from studying (read: procrastination), I decided to bake something that was quick and easy. These bars fulfilled my baking urge on both counts, and on top of this, were scrumptious! 

Chocolate Walnut Shortbread

(Recipe adapted from Salad in a Jar)

Ingredients:

• 1 cup plain flour
• 1/4 cup icing sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 cup melted butter
• 1/2 cup dark chocolate chips 
• 1/8 cup chopped walnuts 

Method:

1. Line an 8-inch pan with baking paper. This is essential if you are to have any hope of getting the bars out of the pan without crumbling. Preheat oven to 180 degrees C.
2. Stir flour, sugar and salt together in small bowl. Pour in melted butter and stir. Use fingers to thoroughly mix butter with dry ingredients.
3. Dump butter/flour mixture in to pan and pat down smooth. Bake in preheated oven for 20 minutes.
4. Immediately after removing from the oven, sprinkle chips evenly over the surface of shortbread cookie base. Allow to sit until all chips are completely melted and soft.
5. Very carefully use a knife or back of a spoon to spread soft chips in an even layer. Sprinkle chopped, walnuts on top. Place in refrigerator until chocolate layer hardens. Remove cookies from pan carefully. Slice into 16 pieces.

Print-friendly recipe here.

If you look at the original blogger's posting, you'll find many variations to this recipe, such as 1/2 dark chocolate chips and 1/2 white chocolate chips which I should try out next time. The recipe is originally called "Toffee Bars Made Easy", but I couldn't detect a hint of toffee! This recipe took me under an hour to make, leaving me time to get back to studying (hmm). But the best thing about this recipe is that it only contains 96 calories. Quick, simple, delicious AND not so fattening? Score!

Voulez-vous quelque choses à manger?

Damien hides drugs in a box of macarons and gives it to Jenny. Serena and Blair feed each other macarons while strutting about in Paris. 

Macarons are becoming the most featured food item on Gossip Girl, second only to waffles. Waffles are featured in just about every episode of Gossip Girl that it might as well become a main character. Waffles supposedly symbolize innocence on the show, hence Rufus constantly forces Jenny to eat her waffles. Dan rejecting waffles from Rufus suggests that he has grown up and about to make his own decisions. Serena discovering that Nate could make waffles reflect on the end of their childhood and the realization that they've become more than friends. Nate guessing that Rufus' waffle iron broke down after noticing Serena's hunger uncovers a lie she told him. 

And all of that suggests that I read too much into my favourite teen drama.

More French pastries below. All pictures by CHOW, click on the name to get the recipe.

Croq-Télé (Almond Cookies)

Chouquettes

Financiers

Croquants

Palmiers

French Chocolate Macarons with Chocolate Ganache

(Gossip Girl image from PurseForum. No copyright infringement intended.)

Junk inside your trunk

This week's recipes are high in fat, sugar and all things bad for your body but heavenly for your taste buds.

Some days I feel like exercising restraint on my diet by feeding it with healthy foods, other times I feel like abusing it with cookies, cakes and chips.

Today feels like the latter.

Nat and I had a Gossip Girl marathon and proceeded to consume chocolates, popcorn, chocolate caramel biscuits, Tim Tams, carrot cake, chocolate fudge Pop Tarts and chips. In addition to this, I've had white chocolate Kinder Bueno, Lindt dark chili chocolate, Lindt dark roasted almond chocolate and chocolate buttercream cake in the past 2 days. 

I still feel like doing my digestive system some more damage. These recipes would be a good start.

Pretzel Cookies with Chocolate and Peanut Butter Chips

From Sugar Cooking

Oh peanut butter chips, why won't you come to New Zealand?! I long for you so. Nat and I were having a debate over whether sweet and salty was a good combination. She said no, I said yes.

Mini Turtle Brownie Bites

From The Other Side of 50

Another topic Nat and I debated about over episodes of Gossip Girl was caramel. Turns out Nat doesn't like caramel. I've only recently began to form a liking for it. Either way, chocolate brownies with caramel sauce sounds damn good.

Snickers Caramel Cheesecake Cookies

From Picky Palate

The words in this recipe sound good on their own but better when strung together in a sentence. 

Peanut Butter Honey Brownies

From Spoonful of Sugar

You can't have junk food without peanut butter of some kind. In this recipe it's in the form of brownies with a honey filled centre. I like to think the healthiness of the honey offsets the calorific nature of everything else in the brownies.

Baked Doughnuts

From How to Eat a Cupcake

 

Funny how this is the only recipe of the ones listed that I'm actually excited to make. The reason being is that I can finally make doughnuts without using a fryer! I've come to believe that baking is a healthier method than frying, so these baked doughnuts sit on top of my list of things to bake in the near future.  

I feel like I've gained ten pounds just blogging about junk food. I've got to feed the fat kid inside of me!

Recipes of the week

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Balls

From Joy the Baker

My first taste of cookie dough was in Ben and Jerry's Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough ice cream, and ever since then, I've been hooked. Most of the time they taste delicious, albeit artificial, (like Kit Kat Cookie Dough) and sometimes I can't get over the rawness of it. When I tried Baskin Robbins' chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream in Sydney, it had a really eggy taste to it that put me off. Still, I like the sound of cookie dough and any recipe with it always catches my eye.

Nutty White Chocolate Blondies

From Chow

In five words: big chunks of white chocolate.

Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins

From Jamie Cooks It Up

What attracted me to this recipe was the use of mayonnaise to make these sweet muffins. I've heard of zucchini, chili and bacon used in chocolate recipes, but not mayonnaise. Apparently the mayonnaise gives the muffins a moist texture. The recipe even says you can substitute mayonnaise for salad dressing if you don't have a tub of mayo handy. 

Banana Caramel Cupcakes

From Bakers Royale

Continuing with bananas, these cupcakes look and sound absolutely delicious. There are a number of ingredients involved but these are readily available in your pantry (with the exception of heavy cream for the filling). This recipe seems similar to the banana cupcakes Natalie and I baked that were meant to be accompanied with a toffee icing. But this one is a lot harder to assemble, but I would presume to be a lot tastier. 

David Leibovitz's Chocolate Chip Cookies

From Serious Eats

Chocolate chip cookies so famous it needs an equally famous chef's name in front of it. But I don't know who David Leibovitz is (although his name sounds familiar). I may have heard of him from watching Top Chef or this recipe has been circling around the food blogosphere. I think it's the latter. Everyday a recipe for chocolate chip cookies would feature on FoodGawker or TasteSpotting, with posters claiming theirs is the chunkiest, richest, sweetest, chewiest chocolate chip cookie. On the same site, there is a taste test to see which are the best chocolate chips to use for chocolate chip cookies. To me, chocolate chip cookies are plain and boring, and are not something I would bake. But if it's David Leibovitz's Chocolate Chip Cookies, I just might.

Baking commences

Exams are finally over for me, so Natalie and I resumed our baking sessions.

Starting with a favourite of ours, peanut butter cookies.

Easy Chocolate Chip and Peanut Butter Biscuits

(Recipe adapted from 'Creative Biscuits and Slices' by Allyson Gofton)

Ingredients:

• 1 cup crunchy or smooth peanut butter (we used smooth)
• 3/4 cup castor sugar (we used half)
• 1 egg, beaten
• 3/4 cup chocolate chips

Method:

1. Beat the peanut butter and sugar together.
2. Add the beaten egg and stir to combine. The mixture will become stiff.
3. Add the chocolate chips.
4. Roll tablespoons of mixture into balls and place on a well-greased tray. Flatten the balls of mixture firmly with a fork.
5. Bake at 180 degrees C for 15-18 minutes until the biscuits are cooked and lightly browned. Transfer to a cake rack to cool and then store in an airtight container.

Makes approx. 24 biscuits.

Print-friendly recipe here.

I'm glad we decided to halve the sugar quantity. The cookies were sweetened by the peanut butter and the chocolate chips gave them an extra crunch.

We didn't know if the cookies would stretch or not, since there's no flour or baking powder in the recipe. Turns out they did, and we had a large cookie crumble slice, which we broke up with a knife. Hence, the oddly shaped cookies.

Spring forward

With spring comes unpredictable weather and allergies. Sadly these two things make me grumpy and depressed. The only way to cure this is by eating junk food. But shortly after, I feel bad for stuffing my face and the cycle continues. Grumpy-depressed-grumpy-depressed.

These cookies were the output of my baking session with Natalie yesterday afternoon. Everyone in my family thought they were cupcakes. But after biting into it, they realised how hard they were and thought we had messed up. I simply told them they were shortbread and they proceeded to be happy again. If only things were that easy.

Almond Shortbread
(Adapted from "The Australian Women's Weekly: The Big Book of Beautiful Biscuits")

Ingredients:

• 250 g butter
• 1/3 cup castor sugar
• 60 g ground almonds
• 12/3 cups plain flour
• 1 packet chocolate drops

Method:

1. Beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
2. Add ground almonds, beat until combined. Add sifted flour. Mix well.
3. Put mixture into lnto piping bag fitted with fluted tube. Pipe small stars into small patty cases, top each biscuit with a chocolate drop.
4. Bake in oven at 180C for approximately 15 minutes or until golden brown.

Makes about 50.

N.B. The original recipe is called "Hazelnut Rosettes". We substituted ground hazelnuts for ground almonds and decorated with orange-chocolate MnMs.

Rainy day, baking day

Today I woke up to an overcast sky and an appetite for baking. Since Natalie was busy with Taste of Japan, I couldn't exactly snap my fingers and have her appear in my kitchen ready to bake. So at 9am, under a gloomy sky, I set out to bake a batch of cookies by myself.

The recipe is called chocolate lace crisps, but I prefer to call it dark chocolate cookies, since nothing about it is lacey or crispy.

Dark Chocolate Cookies (Chocolate Lace Crisps)
(Recipe adapted from "Australian Women's Weekly: Cupcakes and Cookies")

Ingredients:

• 100 g dark cooking chocolate, chopped coarsely
• 80 g butter, chopped
• 1/2 cup caster sugar
• 1 egg, beaten lightly
• 1 cup plain flour
• 2 tablespoons cocoa powder
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 cup icing sugar

Method:

1. Melt chocolate and butter in small saucepan over low heat. Transfer to medium bowl.
2. Stir in caster sugar, egg and sifted flour, cocoa and soda. Cover; refrigerate about 15 mins or until mixture is firm enough to handle.
3. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 180 C. Grease oven trays; line with baking paper.
4. Roll level tablespoons of mixture into balls; roll each ball in icing sugar, place on trays 8cm apart. Bake about 15 mins; cool crisps on trays.

Makes approx 30 cookies.



(Print-friendly recipe here)



The texture is quite cake-y. I suppose if the cookies had been baked longer in the oven, it would turn out nice and crispy.
If you love dark chocolate, you would love the taste of these cookies. I'm more of a white chocolate fan, so these weren't my favourite batch of cookies to bake, but still very satisfying.

Perfect accompaniment to a glass of milk and a good book on a rainy day.