Rose & cranberry cookies, and a little about my 2012 so far

Oh dear, is anyone still reading this blog? =P  Seems like ages since I last posted... I apologize to anyone that has been visiting for how quiet it has been here.

(clockwise from top left: rose & cranberry cookies, coffee & dulce de leche macarons, blackberry mouse on biscuits à la cuillère, with peach mouse insert and biscuit joconde base and earl grey chocolate macarons)
 
With the first 9 months of 2012 behind us, yesterday I heard a friend ponder out loud - where did 2012 go?  It got me thinking that the first 3 quarters of this year, and in particular the summer, did go by rather quickly for me, which tends to happen when there is a lot going on.  I started the year with a couple of months working from home, then it was adjusting to a new office and role at work in central Hong Kong as opposed to being at ICC in Kowloon, then it was planning for our beautiful wedding which took place in Bali, Indonesia, in August (and I know I haven't mentioned the wedding at all till now), then we also got ourselves a new home which we basically tore everything out and started the design and renovation works from bare walls and flooring.  2012 has been good so far and I'm very thankful.

Right now I'm looking forward to moving into our new place by early next month.  I'll have a new kitchen to work in, including a new oven which always takes some time getting used to.  The last quarter of any year tends to be my favorite for a number of reasons - the weather cools down considerably; i really enjoy Christmas and the feasting that comes with the holiday season; both Herr Scherrer and I have our birthdays in October; work at the office tends to slow down; we usually start planning for next year's holiday trips which gets me happy and excited.

I've accumulated quite a backlog of recipes and pictures of bakes that I want to share here, but as I was composing this post I couldn't decide what to share first.  Do I go by chronological order? Alphabetical?  I eventually decided on posting up a collection of photos taken the last few months and will endeavor to share recipes and/or sources of these in the next few posts.  Please leave a comment if you have preference for any to be posted first. 

(clockwise from top left: banana mousse cake with rum chocolate joconde base and mango & kirsch biscuit joconde, opera, free-form berry open tart, banana caramel roll)
 
As for today, I thought I'll tell you about these wonderful rose and cranberry cookies, which I came across while looking for something I could make as wedding favours.  I'm not awfully big into rose flavor, but the idea of these cookies sounded so romantic and sweet.  The original recipe can be found here and I adapted it a little by adding in 1/4 tsp of rose essence.

What I love about these cookies is that the rose flavor is not overpowering.  In fact, you don't really smell the rose flavor until you bite into the cookies.  The cranberries add a chewy munch to the cookies.  It was perfect with a cup of coffee or tea.

Promise I'll be back soon!

Recipe below makes about 20 cookies

50g icing sugar
100g butter
1/4 tsp salt
180g all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp baking soda
1 cup dried rose petals
1/4 tsp rose essence
1/3 cup dried cranberries
approximately 1 tbsp cold water

Sift flour and baking soda together.  Soak rose petals in cold water to soften.  Cream together icing sugar, butter and salt.  Drain rose petals, keeping the water aside.  Add flour mixture, rose petals and essence into butter mixture.  Mix in the added ingredients, adding cold water a little at a time till dough starts to cling together to form a ball (you don't have to finish using the entire 1 tbsp of cold water.  Add cranberries towards the end when dough starts to come together. Roll dough between baking paper till its 0.5cm thick.  Chill for 20 minutes before cutting into rectangular or square pieces.  Bake in 165C preheated oven for 20 minutes, followed by 155C for another 10 minutes, till cookies are brown.


 

Simple & quick oat cinnamon cookies

For a couple of weeks now we've been having a bit of a oat and bran craze at home.  Mostly due to my better half's strong desire to lower his cholesterol level (oats are supposedly good for that). 

One morning he sweetly asked me if I could make him some oat cookies.  It was such a simple request, I couldn't possibly refuse... also, its not as if I need a strong reason to head into the kitchen to bake...

This is a really simple & quick to make recipe - good if you simply want to enjoy the taste of oats and with a bit of cinnamon. I baked 1/3 of it and froze the other 2/3 in the freezer for future yum yum!

 

Recipe below makes about 30 cookies

115g butter, chopped & softened

95g granulated sugar

95g brown sugar

1 egg

1/2 tsp vanilla essence

130g self raising flour, sifted

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

120g instant oats

Beat butter, granulated sugar and brown sugar together with electric mixer until creamy.  Beat in egg then stir in vanilla.  Combine flour, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon.  Mix into butter mixture until dry and wet ingredients are well incorporated.  Stir in oats.  

Roll flat tablespoon quantity of dough into balls.  Place 5cm apart on greased baking sheet.  Flatten dough balls slightly with spoon.  Bake for 9 to 10 minutes in 190C preheated oven.  

Allow cookies to cool on baking sheet for a few minutes before transferring to wire rack to cool completely (cookies will initially be too soft to transfer to wire rack but will harden as it cools).  

(If dough appears too soft / butter begins melting while you are working on it, just cover dough with plastic and chill in fridge for about 15 minutes before working on it again.)

It's time for cookies!

 "I love cookies warm!"  exclaimed Herr Scherrer as he excitedly grabs a cookie from the cooling rack.  He never fails to remind me of that when I make cookies at home and I agree with him wholeheartedly.  Cookies are best when they've cooled slightly but not completely.  I wish we could just pop the cookies into a microwave and get the same effect but its just never the same after its completely cooled. 

I was reminded of this again a couple of weekends ago when I made these dark chocolate walnut cookies.  The original recipe called for white chocolates with macadamia but I had none of those available at home.  We were stuck at home for a couple of hours while waiting for the cable company to upgrade our broadband speed - just enough time, though unexpected, for a quick batch of cookies.  We also have super fast internet speed now reaching several hundred mbps .  Thrilling!

Recipe adapted from Australian Women's Weekly's "Biscuits & Slices", makes about 30 cookies.

125g butter, chopped

1 teaspoon vanilla essence

1 teaspoon grated orange rind

200g firmly packed brown sugar

1 egg

225g plain flour

190g dark chocolate bits

50g finely chopped walnuts

Beat butter, essence, rind, sugar and egg in small bowl with electric mixer until smooth.  Stir in flour and chocolate bits.  Drop level tablespoons of mixture about 5cm apart onto greased oven trays, top with nuts.  Baked cookies in 180 C preheated oven about 15 minutes or until firm.  Cool on wire racks.

Strawberry linzer cookies

I'm awfully excited about spending Christmas in my new home!! Due to move in 4 days, I've been busy ensuring the house renovations get completed in time, contacting the movers, and getting started on packing stuff into boxes... busy busy busy!!! Thank goodness things at work has lightened considerably.

Trying to clear as much as possible out of my fridge before the house move, I finally got down to baking those linzer cookie dough I prepared and kept in the freezer about 2 weeks ago. Linzer cookies are one of my favorites during the Christmas holiday season. I wish I had more time to make them into interesting holiday shapes... Merry Xmas everyone!!

Ingredients:

110 g ground almond

260 g plain flour

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon salt

227 g unsalted butter, at room temperature

135 g caster sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla essence

2 large egg yolk

zest of 1 lemon

3/4 cup strawberry preserves

Method:

Sift together flour, cinnamon and salt in a bowl, then set aside. Using an electric mixer, beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy, add in the vanilla essence, egg yolks, lemon zest and ground almonds while continuing to beat. Add in the flour mixture and beat until just combined. Shape dough into a round ball and wrap in plastic. Keep in the fridge until firm (about 1 hour) or up to a few days. At this point the dough can also be stored in the freezer for a few weeks.

Roll dough between 2 baking sheets until about 0.6cm thick. Using 5cm cookie cutters of any shape desired, cut out pieces of dough, placing them on prepared baking trays around 2cm apart. Using a smaller cookie cutter, cut out the centers of half of the cookies. Bake for around 12 to 15 mins in a preheated 180 C oven. Cool on wire rack.

When ready to assemble cookies, place strawberry preserves in a saucepan and heat gently. Spread around 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon of heated strawberry preserves on the bottom of a full cookie, top with a cookie without centers, sandwiching them together firmly.

Oooh those buttery sablés

You can't tell from the photos but I went sablé cookies crazy this weekend! I made at least 100 of these buttery yummies, enough to fill 2 large cookie jars! I love the taste of rich buttery cookies and sablés are one of my favorites. As always, with biscuits and cookies its always easier to make a big batch of dough at one go and freeze part of it if you don't wish to bake it all at once.

A french cookie originating from Normandy, sablés are crisp yet delicate and crumble nicely in your mouth. A french chef once told me I should never to refer to sablés as cookies... hehe.... anyhow, pair it with a good cup of coffee and you pretty much get my idea of a lovely afternoon tea.

These dainty bites come in all sorts of fancy designs, e.g. swirls and checkers. I was a little lazy with mine and went with four chocolate and vanilla quadrants placed alternate to each other.