Recipes – Page 3

Mango and Vanilla Pannacotta

April 5, 2013 Posted in Cooking, Desserts, RecipesLeave a comment

I’m not sure how I came around to liking Panna Cotta’s, it’s probably Masterchef Australia but making a great Panna Cotta that is silky smooth, not too sweet but just enough richness is something I’ve been seeking in a recipe. I’ve made Vanilla Panna Cotta before but I’ve always been fascinated by mango jelly with Vanilla Panna Cotta. I found this recipe on Kothiyavunu.com and it looked great and panna cotta’s don’t take toooo much time, and it’s usually easy enough to make too so I had to try it out.

Mango and Vanilla Panna Cotta (Kothiyavunu.com)

Preparation Time : 10 minutes + Setting Time : 3-4 hrs
Cooking Time : 15 minutes
Serves : 4

Ingredients

Panna Cotta
Heavy Cream : 1 cup /240 ml (Or thickened cream)
Sugar : 1 tbsp /15 grms (or to your taste)
Milk/Half & Half : 1 cup /240 ml
Unflavored Gelatin : 1 packet /11/2 tsp
Honey : 1/3 cup /80 ml
Pure Vanilla Extract : 1 tsp

Mango Jelly
Mango Puree : 1 cup / 240 ml
Sugar : 1/4 cup /60 grms (or to your taste) – I used 1/8 cup
Cool Water : 3 tbsp/45 ml
Unflavored Gelatin : 1 packet /11/2 tsp

Method

Panna Cotta

1. Pour 1/2 cup of the milk into a bowl and sprinkle the gelatin over. Let stand until gelatin has softened, about 5 minutes.

2. Meanwhile, in a small saucepan combine remaining cup of milk, cream, honey, sugar,and bring to a simmer over medium. Heat until all the sugar and honey have dissolved 5-7 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in the the vanilla extract. Watch the nix carefully as it is prone to splitting.

3. Now add and mix the gelatin until it is completely dissolved and allow the mixture come down to room temperature.

4. Pour into the serving bowls/glass as desired, cover with plastic wraps and refrigerate at least 2-4 hours or until set.

Mango Jelly

1. Sprinkle gelatin over cool water.

2. Pour mango puree and sugar in a small saucepan and simmer until sugar has dissolved.

3. Now mix the gelatin into the mango mixture and stir until gelatin has dissolved.

4. Remove from heat and allow to cool; pour it over the frozen panna cotta.

5. Allow to set it in a refrigerator for 3 to 4 hours until set.

Impressions

I think I made the worst mistake when cooking the panna cotta mix. I split the cream. Once it set, I realised that my thickened cream split into three layers! I tried scooping some of the fat from the top out (slightly yellow tinged) to make as “normal” as I could. The recipe wasn’t at fault though, I just left it on the stove too long and let it bubble/boil.

The mango jelly was easy to make, using the same kind of method as with the panna cotta mix and luckily I couldn’t have split that too!

The overall result was still quite decent. The panna cotta came out slightly grainy due to my neglect but flavour wise I couldn’t be happier. However, I found the use of thickened cream/heavy cream to be too dense for my liking. I’m not sure if using the standard cream would be harder to set but it didn’t seem as light as I would have liked. Other then that I enjoyed eating it and that’s as best of compliment I can give.

Parsnip and Swede Mash (BBC GoodFood)

March 29, 2013 Posted in Baking, Cooking, RecipesLeave a comment

I was searching for a replacement recipe to mash potato, just to try something different. Even though I am a potato head, I heard about parsnip mash in Masterchef and they always make some weird vegetable into a mash so why can’t I be weird too! I found this recipe from the BBC GoodFood website titled Winter root mash with buttery crumbs and looked quite delicious and didn’t seem to difficult to make either. Although they said it’s for winter I didn’t care, mash is all year round.

Winter root mash with buttery crumbs aka Parsnip and Swede Mash (BBC GoodFood)

Serves 10

Ingredients
650g parsnips , cut into even chunks
650g swedes , cut into same size chunks as the parsnips
142ml tub soured cream
1 rounded tbsp hot horseradish (English Provender is good) (I used Spiced Mustard)
2 tbsp fresh thyme leaves
butter , for greasing

Butter topping
50g butter
1 small onion , finely chopped
50g fresh white breadcrumbs (from about 4 slices)
a small handful thyme leaves, plus extra for scattering
25g parmesan , coarsely grated (I used a mix of parmesan and mozzarella)

Method
1. In a large pan of boiling salted water, cook the parsnips and swede, covered, for about 20 minutes until tender. Drain well, then mash them together using a masher or food processor until reasonably smooth but still with a bit of texture. Stir in the soured cream, horseradish and thyme and season with salt and pepper.

2. Spoon into a buttered shallow ovenproof dish and put to one side.

3. Make the topping. Melt the butter in a frying pan and cook the onion for 5-6 minutes, until gorgeously golden. Mix in the breadcrumbs and stir to brown and crisp a little. Season with salt and pepper and add the thyme. Take the pan off the heat.

4. Spoon the mixture casually over the top of the mash. Scatter over the parmesan. (Can be made ahead to this point and kept covered in the fridge for up to a day. Or can be frozen for up to a month.)

5. Bake at 190C/gas 5/ fan 170C for 35-40 minutes if doing from cold, 25-30 minutes if not, or 1 1?2 – 1 3?4 hours from frozen (put foil on top, and remove it for the last 10 minutes) – until golden and crisp on top. Serve scattered with a few more thyme sprigs and leaves.

Impressions

I absolutely loved this recipe, especially fresh from the oven. Although I made a slight alteration with the recipe using spiced mustard instead of horseradish I don’t think it made much of a difference.

I did steps 1 and 2 the day before since I was baking a few other things the next day too but it didn’t appear to affect the mash when I took it out of the fridge the next day.

I think the use of fresh thyme leaves (from my garden!) made it smell so good. I really couldn’t get enough thyme in this recipe, it was used profusely into the mash and sprinkled on top and in the topping.

I also used a mix of parmesan and mozzarella as the cheese topping which I think worked in its favour. Very tasty cheese on top, indeed. The topping was cheesy but crispy and the breadcrumbs added a nice crunch too. The swede and parsnip mash was just cooked to perfection. It also didn’t seem too fattening either, the sour cream adds to this idea but since it doesn’t use all that much, it tastes very much fresh and light (well as light as a buttery cheesy mash can be). I’m definitely making this again, such a pleasant surprise.

Sweet Potato Fries

March 15, 2013 Posted in Baking, Cooking, RecipesLeave a comment

Around my holiday break I wanted to try making something with potatoes. Something crunchy, and yet not too fattening (as least fattening as potatoes can be), so I thought about sweet potato fries. Sweet potatoes are regarded as the healthier option but the difference is actually not too large as you might have heard. I read about the difficulties people have with making sweet potato fries crispy since they have a higher water content, so they tend to sag a bit unless you try deep frying it. Me, trying to avoid any heavy oils, and particularly deep frying anything, I wanted to grill/oven bake them. They certainly are very difficult to crisp up but other than that, they turned out decent enough for a side dish.

I found this recipe from the Food Network by Paula Deen. The original recipe as noted by the comments appears to be way over salted, luckily having read the comments I stuck by that and divided it by 4.

Baked Sweet Potato Fries (Food Network)

Ingredients
Olive Oil, for tossing
5 sweet potatoes, peeled and sliced into 1/4-inch long slices, then 1/4-wide inch strips, using a crinkle cut knife
1 tablespoon House Seasoning (recipe follows)
1/2 teaspoon paprika

House Seasoning:
1/4 cup salt
1/4 cup black pepper
1/4 cup garlic powder

Method
1. Preheat oven to 230 degrees C. Line a sheet tray with parchment. In a large bowl toss sweet potatoes with just enough oil to coat.

2. Mix house seasoning ingredients together and store in an airtight container for up to 6 months.

3. Sprinkle potatoes with House Seasoning and paprika.

4. Spread sweet potatoes in single layer on prepared baking sheet, being sure not to overcrowd.

5. Bake until sweet potatoes are tender and golden brown, turning occasionally, about 20 minutes. Let cool 5 to 10 minutes before serving.

Impressions

Baking sweet potato fries requires a lot more time than I imagined, simply because you need to keep flipping these around so that the entire chip crisps up. Otherwise you’d find that only one side is “crispy” (aka just slightly firmer in my case) and the bottom side is like a baked potato. Then, you have to consider the air temperature when turning the fries around as you would lose a lot of heat. So bear that in mind.

As you may see, the fries were a bit on the floppy side but nonetheless the flavour of the fries was decent. I think I may have added too much black pepper to my seasoning. Probably I would have added let’s say 1/5 cup or about there instead, and maybe sprinkled a bit more paprika and used a tad of chicken salt to replace the regular salt I used.

Keep in mind too, that only a very small amount of oil is needed for the seasoning to stick as then you may end up with wet potatoes that won’t evaporate in time. I enjoyed the process though don’t get me wrong, but I’m still searching for that perfect recipe.

Neil Perry’s Guacamole Recipe

March 1, 2013 Posted in Cooking, Mexican, RecipesLeave a comment

After coming back from a holiday in the USA and Canada, I became a larger fan of Mexican cuisine. On our way to the Grand Canyon we found this family Mexican restaurant that had really good (and absolutely filling) dishes. Of course for starters we had guacamole, and it was beautiful. So tasty, had a nice hint of lime, and coriander but not overbearing and letting the avocado shine. So when I came back to Australia I though what they hey, let’s try making it. I found this recipe on Good Food by Neil Perry that looked nice and fresh but I made some variations to it below.

Guacamole (Good Food)

Ingredients
1/2 small red onion
3 jalapeno chillies, seeds removed
1/2 bunch coriander, leaves only,
sea salt and freshly ground pepper
3 ripe avocados
juice of 2 limes
8 cherry tomatoes, roughly chopped
corn chips, to serve

Method
1. Finely chop the onion, chillies and coriander leaves.

2. Place in a mortar with a generous amount of sea salt and pound with a pestle until you have a rough paste.

3. Peel, stone and halve the avocados and add to the mortar, pounding until they start to mash.

4. Add the lime juice and a good grind of pepper and fold through.

5. Add the cherry tomatoes and fold through gently. (I didn’t)

Note: If the mortar is an attractive granite one, serve the guacamole straight out of that, with a bowl of corn chips.

Impressions

I actually didn’t have any jalapeño chillies so instead I used red chillies but I think I used the small type which are more on the mouth burning hot kind. Luckily I used only one very tiny chilli with the seeds out so it wasn’t too bad. I didn’t add the tomatoes either because I thought it might be nice to try it held back and simple.

I found the recipe to be decent, not anywhere to the level of the ones I’ve found on holiday but I think it was also because I used too much coriander! It asks for half a bunch, which I did use but it was so overbearing that I had to add another avocado to the mix to balance it out. I’d probably only use a a 1/8 cup at first and keep adding a bit more to your liking. It still wasn’t how I wanted it in the end because I ran out of avocados to mix in, haha, but it tasted pretty good with corn chips (and beer). I think it was also because the avocados I purchased weren’t ripe yet, as they were still a tad hard when extracting them from the skin and had very minimal flavour.

If you’re looking for a guacamole recipe with a slight twist and zing, I think this is it. For something more authentic, I think it’s best to keep looking.

Grilled Tiger Prawns (Neil Perry Recipe)

February 15, 2013 Posted in Australian, RecipesLeave a comment

This recipe is so simple, so easy and yet so delicious. I found this recipe on Neil Perry’s Rockpool website and upsized it for the quantity of tiger prawns I had. Look at these prawns, I’ve never found such large prawns before in my entire life! I cannot find these gems again though, sadly.

Check out the recipe below

Grilled Tiger Prawns

Serves 2

6 green king prawns, cut in half and deveined (Or any prawns to your liking – with shells)

½ bunch parsley, chopped

½ bunch oregano, chopped

1 garlic clove, chopped

Zest of ½ lemon

Pinch dried chilli flakes

90ml olive oil

Salt, pepper

Lemon wedge, to serve

Neil Perry Fresh Signature Mayonnaise (Optional)

Method
1. In a bowl, combine the parsely, oregano, garlic, lemon zest, chilli flakes and olive oil. Add the prawns, toss well and leave to marinate for 30 minutes.

2. Heat a grill or pan over a high heat. Season the prawns with salt and pepper and grill flesh side down for 30 seconds to one minute, or until just starting to colour. Turn the prawns over and grill for a further 10 seconds, then remove from the grill and pile up on a plate. I used a cast iron grill and it worked wonders for these prawns.

Serve with a wedge of lemon and Neil Perry Fresh Signature Mayonnaise.

Impressions

I didn’t have any fresh oregano so I used dry oregano flakes from the supermarket, just sprinkled a bit more. I had fresh parsley from my garden though and grilling it with these prawns made them absolutely mouth watering.

Adding a tad more chilli flakes also added that nice zing to it and you hardly needed any further dressing or condiments to it as it is tasty just freshly grilled. Cooks extremely quickly, and is really one of those quick and easy meals after you have done your prep. This is one of my favourite recipes now.

Pandan Snow Skin Mini Mooncakes with Peppermint Lotus Paste and Pumpkin Seeds

February 1, 2013 Posted in Baking, Chinese, Confectionery, Desserts, MalaysianLeave a comment

Mooncake Festival is one of those Chinese traditions, where you eat a considerable amount of mooncake to celebrate well, a full moon. There are a number of Chinese festivals and it’s hard to keep track of them all but the Mooncake festival is one of those bigger occasions other than Chinese New Year. Lately I’ve become fond of the “snow skin” mooncakes and staying away from those traditional mooncakes which are golden brown in colour and have a wonderful fragrance to it. It’s probably due to my affection for mochi. We decided to give this a try using Christine’s Recipe. Check it out below

Pandan Snow Skin Mooncakes with Coconut Mung Bean Filling (Christine’s Recipes)
Prep time: 15 mins
Cook time: 60 mins
Yield: 16 mini mooncakes (50 grams each)

Ingredients
55 gm glutinous rice flour
45 gm rice flour
25 gm wheat flour / wheat starch
60 gm caster sugar
190 ml milk
30 ml condensed milk
25 ml vegetable oil (such as sunflower oil or canola oil)
40 ml pandan juice
2 to 3 drops of pandan paste / pandan essence, optional
320 gm peppermint lotus paste (or any other filling you like!)
2 Tbsp cooked glutinous rice flour, for coating

Method
1. In a large mixing bowl, combine glutinous rice flour, rice flour, wheat flour and sugar well.

2. Mix milk, condensed milk, pandan juice and oil together. Pour into the flour mixture and stir to combine. Drain through a fine sieve into a large and shallow pan.

3. Steam the batter in a wok over medium-high heat, for about 15 to 20 minutes. Try a bit of the dough. If it doesn’t have any raw flour taste, it’s cooked through. Remove from wok and let it cool down.

4. Scrape the dough out onto a plastic board or a kitchen benchtop lined with plastic film. Lightly knead by hand until smooth. Cut dough into 16 portions, 30 grams of each.

5. Divide mung bean filling into 16 portions, 20 grams of each. Roll each into a round shape.

6. Wrap each filling ball with a dough portion. Roll with your palms and lightly coat with cooked glutinous rice flour. Shake off any excess flour. Place into a mooncake mould. Press to print the pattern. Repeat this step until finish all the dough and fillings. Store the mooncakes into an air-tight container. Put kitchen paper on top to prevent any condensed water dropped on the mooncake surface. Refrigerate overnight. Enjoy.

Notes (Christine’s)
– How to prepare cooked glutinous rice flour: Simply cook the flour in a frypan without any oil over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally. When smoke releases and the flour turns light yellow, it’s cooked. Remove from the heat and let it cool down completely. Then you can use it to coat your mooncakes.

– When the dough is still hot, it seems to be quite oily. Don’t worry. It won’t be greasy at all, when it cools down completely.

– The snow skin mooncakes can be stored in freezer up to a few weeks. Before serving, just transfer the mooncakes to fridge for about 3 hours, until they become soften a bit.

Impressions

I used a peppermint lotus paste for this recipe which I kindly received from a family friend in Malaysia. It had quite an interesting flavour to it but I’m not quite sure if it would be too many peoples’ liking.

For this recipe I used a bit more pandan essence as when I tasted the mixture, it was almost non existant but YMMV. I found I could only make 10 mooncakes with this recipe, I’m uncertain if it’s because the mixture evaporated or Christine used smaller moulds. I thought these were quite small anyway.

Eaten fresh, these mooncakes are soft with a bit of bite to them but once left out in the open for sometime they seem to harden up. I’m unsure if that’s just normal with these snow skin mooncakes because I’ve tried a Hong Kong variation which is stored in the fridge that was very soft to the touch and absolutely delicious (Mango flavoured). I’ll probably try a different recipe next time but these turned out relatively so it’s not a bad recipe by any means.

Homemade Sausage Rolls (Everyday Gourmet)

January 18, 2013 Posted in Baking, Cooking, RecipesLeave a comment

I saw this recipe on TV on Everyday Gourmet, with former Masterchef contestant Justine Schofield. What attracted me to the recipe was the ingredients she used, adding sambal oelek made me quite curious to taste how it would turned out. It also looked delicious when the sausage rolls were taken out of the oven. I thought why not give it a try, it’d be way better than those frozen/Four and Twenty/tucker shop varieties.

My primary difference was using Beef Mince, along with Beef/Pork Sausages (With no skin) as noted below.

Sausage Rolls (Everyday Gourmet – Justine Schofield)

Time: 35 minutes
Serves: 16

Ingredients
2 sheets frozen puff pastry, thawed
300g lamb mince (Or Beef)
3 Italian sausages, skin removed (6 small Beef/Pork Sausages – no skin)
1 ½ tsp. fennel seeds
1 tbs sambal oelek (2 1/2 tbs sambal oelek)
1 tbs tomato paste
1 onion, finely chopped and fried
2 tbs parsley, finely chopped
2 eggs, 1 lightly beaten
1 carrot, finely grated
Salt and pepper
Toasted Sesame Seeds (Optional)

Method

1. Pre heat the oven to 200C. Lightly grease and line a large baking tray with baking paper.

2. In a large bowl mix lamb (beef) mince, sausages, fennel seeds, tomato paste, sambal oelek, onion, grated carrot, parsley and 1 egg. Season well with salt and pepper. With your hands thoroughly combine the meat mixture. If you want to taste whether or not the seasoning is to your liking, try taking a small spoonful of the meat mixture and cooking it (pan/oven/microwave) but if using a microwave make sure it’s cooked all the way through.

3. Cut pastry sheet in half. Place one quarter of the mixture along the length of the pastry pressing together tightly. Roll the sausage roll log until the meat is completely covered with ½ of pastry. Cut excess pastry. Cut into 4 pieces and place on the baking tray.Repeat the process with the remaining ingredients.

4. Brush some lightly beaten egg over the mini sausage rolls and sprinkle the sesame seeds on top, cook in the oven for 20 minutes or until the pastry is golden brown. Serve with your favourite tomato chutney or sauce.

Impressions

I loved this recipe! Having the sambal oelek in the recipe makes the difference, It simply cannot be ignored. I saw in Justine’s pictures that she sprinkled what looked like black sesame seeds on top but I wasn’t sure. We didn’t have any so I used the white variety instead, made it look better (I think).

You may notice that the fat from the sausages/ mince etc liquifies and spills on to the baking paper. This is what happened with mine, I just scraped it off from the bottom and cut it off from the sausage rolls and re-plated it.

Using beef does give it a strong beef taste but I think some will enjoy it, as not everybody seems to like the taste/smell of lamb.

Chocolate Orange Mini Cupcakes

January 4, 2013 Posted in Baking, Cooking, RecipesLeave a comment

Orange and Chocolate go so well together, so I decided to try to bake some mini cupcakes. The recipe I used also had a orange and white chocolate buttercream icing on top but I thought I’d try it without it. Sometimes cupcakes just don’t need icing. I found this recipe off BBC Food which has many interesting recipes to try, luckily they also have both the metric and imperial measurements.

Chocolate Orange Cupcakes

Ingredients
For the cupcakes
120g/4oz plain flour
140g/5oz caster sugar (Halved to 70g)
1 tsp baking power
40g/1½oz unsalted butter
50g/2oz dark chocolate, melted
1 free-range egg
125ml/4fl oz milk
1 orange, juice only
3 tbsp granulated sugar

For the white chocolate and orange buttercream
125g/4½oz unsalted butter, softened
250g/9oz icing sugar
2-3 tbsp milk
50g/1¾oz white chocolate, melted
1 orange, zest only
100g/3½oz orange chocolate

Method
1. Preheat the oven to 170C/325F/Gas 3. Line a 12-hole muffin tin with paper cases.

2. Mix the flour, sugar and baking powder together in a food processor. Add the butter and pulse until combined.

3. Whisk the melted chocolate, egg and milk together in a jug.

4. Stir the chocolate mixture into the flour mixture until just combined.

5. Spoon the mixture into the cases and bake for 15-20 minutes, or until risen and golden-brown and a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean. Remove from the oven and set aside to cool for 10 minutes.

6. Meanwhile, mix the orange juice and granulated sugar together in a bowl. Carefully pour the orange juice mixture over the warm cakes and set aside to cool completely.

7. For the white chocolate and orange buttercream, beat the butter in a bowl until light and fluffy. Carefully stir in the icing sugar and continue to beat for five minutes. Beat in the milk, melted chocolate and orange zest.

8. Decorate the cupcakes with the buttercream

Impressions

I found the recipe did require the buttercream icing on top because the orange juice mixture didn’t really soak through the cupcakes. They basically just slid off the tops. It also gave the cakes a slightly damp feel to them as a result. The chocolate flavour was quite good though, perhaps its because the recipe requires chocolate and not just cocoa powder as some recipes do. With the orange juice mix you can taste it slightly but just not enough. I think I’ll try making it with an orange buttercream but without white chocolate as white chocolate tends to be extra sweet.

Ginger Snaps (SimpleRecipes)

December 21, 2012 Posted in Baking, Cooking, RecipesLeave a comment

It’s that festive time of year and what better way to get into the mood then to bake some ginger cookies! I really don’t know why I like ginger snaps/cookies so much, I have such a strong distaste for ginger in anything. I found this recipe on SimpleRecipes.com and thought they looked quite cute. Little did I know how out of ordinary the recipe was when I started to make it.

Gingersnap Cookies (SimplyRecipes)

Yield: Makes 6 to 8 dozen cookies.

Ingredients
8 oz unsalted butter (226g)
1 1/4 cup + 2 Tbsp. granulated sugar (I used a bit more than 1/2 cup brown sugar)
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 small eggs or 1 1/2 large eggs
1/3 cup molasses
3 cups all-purpose flour
2 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
2 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/8 teaspoon finely ground black pepper

Method
1. Cream butter until soft; add sugar, and beat until light and fluffy. Add vanilla and eggs, and beat until fluffy. Add molasses and beat until well-mixed.

2. Sift the dry ingredients; add to the mixture, 1/3 at a time. Mix only until the dry ingredients become incorporated.

3. Line a 9″ x 5″ loaf pan with plastic wrap, so that some hangs over the outsides. Press the dough into the bottom of the pan. Pack it tightly, and try to make the top as level as possible. Cover the dough with the plastic overhangs. Freeze until very firm, preferably overnight.

4. Unwrap and remove dough from the pan. Slice brick into thin slices, no more than 1/8″. Place on a parchment or Silpat-lined sheetpan (space at least an inch apart) and bake at 175 degrees Celsius until the edges turn dark brown, 7-12 minutes, depending on how thinly you have sliced the dough. Check the oven for doneness at 7 minutes.

Impressions

I made a few variations that didn’t seem to turn out that well. For one, I used cooking margarine which will have a lower fat content so it makes it less firm. So you’ll have difficulty trying to slice it evenly after it’s supposedly frozen and it’s hard to cut thin pieces because of it. Using a loaf pan is probably a good idea so you’ll get a consistent shape. My cookies certainly look terrible unattractive so that’s a reason to use a loaf pan instead of just throwing it into the freezer on a flat surface.

The other change I made was to the sugar content, I halved roughly but the cookies come out slightly less sweet then I would have liked. Probably 3/4 cup brown sugar would be the right amount if you’re eating them like this. I think if you intended on icing these

Other than that, taste wise it’s pretty good. I added a tad more ground ginger maybe 1/2 tsp and it gives it a more pronounced flavour to it.

Would I try the recipe again? I might, the long “cooking” time is a bit of a disincentive as you’ll have to wait one night or so to bake it but if I had an abundance of free time it’s worth a shot to try and perfect it.

Merry Xmas and have a safe and joyous New Year!

Cranberry and White Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies

December 14, 2012 Posted in Bakery, RecipesLeave a comment

One day I had the urge to make Cranberry and White Chocolate cookies, I think I’ve seen it in stores before but I had this idea that dried cranberries were small and diced. I was searching high and low for these cranberries but to no avail. I don’t even think they exist now. So instead I bought the usual dried cranberries which are a bit chunky. I came across this recipe from Rachel @ Simple Girl and they looked absolutely delicious.

Cranberry Oatmeal White Chocolate Cookies (Simple Girl)
Makes 4 dozen cookies

Ingredients

1 cup butter or margarine (softened) – I used margarine
1 cup firmly packed brown sugar (1/2 cup used)
1/2 cup granulated/caster sugar (1/8 cup)
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (or white, whole wheat flour) (I used all whole wheat flour)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 cups oats
1 cup dried cranberries
1 cup white chocolate chips (Reduce this to 1/2 cup)

Method

1. Heat oven to 175 degrees Celsius.
2. Beat together margarine and sugars until creamy.
3. Add eggs and vanilla; beat well.
4. Add combined flour, baking soda and salt. Mix well.
5.. Stir in oats, dried cranberries and white chocolate chips.
6. Drop by rounded tablespoonfuls onto a parchment lined cookie sheet.

7. Bake 8 – 9 minutes. (I prefer to slightly under bake until the tops just turn slightly brown.)

Impressions

I liked this recipe but even after reducing the brown sugar and caster sugar it was still very sweet! I think it was because both the cranberries and white chocolate are already sweet. If I were to make these again, I would reduce the white chocolate to 1/2 cup as I put in 1 cup when I made these and the white chocolate was too plentiful. The oats can be slightly big so you may want to add them to a food processor give it a couple seconds whizz so the oats are a tad smaller.

These cookies with oats aren’t your typical crispy/crunchy type, because of the oats it makes it slightly soft so if you’re not fond of it then this might not be for you. Nonetheless it’s a tasty treat that makes you feel less guilty about eating them and very easy and quick to make.

ohdenny

Tag: Recipes

Mango and Vanilla Pannacotta

Parsnip and Swede Mash (BBC GoodFood)

Sweet Potato Fries

Neil Perry’s Guacamole Recipe

Grilled Tiger Prawns (Neil Perry Recipe)

Pandan Snow Skin Mini Mooncakes with Peppermint Lotus Paste and Pumpkin Seeds

Homemade Sausage Rolls (Everyday Gourmet)

Chocolate Orange Mini Cupcakes

Ginger Snaps (SimpleRecipes)

Cranberry and White Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies