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.)

Azuki mousse & matcha genoise cake

I had another Japanese themed inspiration following one of my recent post here of sesame chiffon cake and Niseko, Japan. 

This time, its azuki beans.  I've always had something for azuki bean flavored desserts.  My dad loves those asian style azuki bean ice popsicles and as a kid I would often find some in the freezer at home.  It was a memorable cold treat after a hot sunny day in Singapore.

I wanted to recreate the childhood memory, and an important part of it is using whole beans (sweetened from a can) instead of azuki bean puree, so that one could enjoy the munch of whole beans, resembling the taste of whole azuki beans in the ice popsicles my dad used to buy.

Everthing else was kept simple to ensure the taste of azuki beans were clearly distinct.  The azuki bean mousse was paired with matcha génoise. 

Recipe below makes about 4 mini cakes

Matcha génoise:

2 egg

40g granulated sugar

35g plain flour, sifted

7g matcha powder (sifted together with flour)

20g butter

(There will be left over génoise but I find its easier to work with these quantities than something smaller.  You could half the ingredients and there would still be enough génoise for about 4 mini cakes.  Extra génoise can be wrapped in plastic and kept in the fridge for other uses.)

Preheat oven to 180 C.  Hand-whisk eggs and sugar over bain marie till mixture reaches 40 C.  Using an electrical whisk, beat eggs and sugar on high speed till fluffy and peaks form.  Melt butter over bain marie.  Fold flour & matcha into egg mixture in 3 batches.  Be careful not to overmix. Add a scoop of egg & flour mixture into melted butter and mix well.  Fold butter mixture back into remaining egg & flour mixture and fold gently till batter surface is uniformly shiny.  Pour & spread evenly into approximately 8 by 11 inch lined cake tin and bake for about 16 to 18 mins (if you are using half the quantity, use a smaller cake tin so your génoise would still have sufficient thickness).  Invert cake onto a wire rack and let cool before cutting out pieces of génoise rounds (or squares depending on your cake ring) that is slightly smaller than the cake ring you are using.  Place génoise rounds at the bottom of lined cake rings.  Set aside.

Azuki mousse:

2 gelatin sheets

180g azuki beans, sweetened (from a can)

180g whipping cream

Soak gelatin sheets in cold water till bloomed. Melt gelatin over bain marie and stir into azuki beans.  Whisk cream on medium speed till soft peak forms.  Fold cream into azuki beans mixture.  Pour over matcha génoise in cake rings and leave it fridge until set.

Finish:

Remove mousse from cake ring (using hot towel or flame torch on external of ring to loosen mousse).  Wrap with dark chcolate and top with fruits and sprinkle of crushed pistachios as desired.

Apple & cinnamon tartlets (tartelettes)

Its great to be working from home.  I've been doing that the past week as the office is closed for renovations and its been fantastic!  I can enjoy my morning coffee and breakfast without having to rush out of the house to catch the bus.  I make conference calls, check emails and work on materials in between a little bit of bloomberg tv time (keeping in touch with market news) and kitchen time (making myself lunch & snacks).  

The only downside is my meal times gets a little mixed up.  Lunch time is bascially "whenever I feel hungry" instead of the usual 12.30pm at the office.  And one evening when Herr Scherrer had a night out with the guys while I stayed in, on a strange whim I had apple & cinnamon tartelettes for dinner. =P

Given it was an impromptu decision I was glad to have some leftover pâte brisée in the fridge which was just nice for a couple of tartelettes.  I sliced up some apples while resting the rolled out dough in mini tart pans in the fridge for 30 minutes.  Tossed the apples in some lemon juice, sprinkled over sugar and cinnamon and it was good to go!

Recipe below makes 4 tartelettes

For the pâte brisée:

250g cake flour

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp sugar

125g cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

65ml cold water

For the filling:

4 small to medium size apples

sugar & ground cinnamon (to taste)

2 tsp lemon juice

Sift flour, salt and sugar together into large bowl.  Add butter to sifted flour mixture and cut it into the flour with a pastry scraper, until pieces of butter are the size of peas.  Form a well in the center of the butter & flour mixture and pour water into it.  Quickly incorporate the water into the butter & flour mixture until the dough holds together, adding additional water if required.  Gather dough into a disc / ball and wrap it in plastic and refridgerate for at least 30 minutes.

Roll out dough on floured surface until about 3mm thick.  Cut out 4 circles 2 inches wider in diameter than the tartlet pans.  Lift circles into the tartlet pans, gently pushing the dough into the bottom and against the edges, cut off any excess around the edges to neaten. Chill in refridgerator for at least 30 minutes.

Slice apples thinly, toss in  lemon juice, sugar and ground cinnamon.  Arrange apples neatly on top of rested dough.  Sprinkle additional sugar and cinnamon to your taste.

Bake in preheated 190C oven for 30 to 40 minutes.

Sesame chiffon cake with vanilla frosting and a trip to Niseko

We spent the week before the Chinese New Year snowboarding for 6 days in the powder paradise of Niseko in Hokkaido, Japan.  Niseko gets an average annual snowfall of around 15m and everywhere we looked it was meters tall of white, giving new meaning to the term "winter wonderland".  Its our second trip to Niseko and it's almost certain that we'll visit again during the winter of 2013.

Other than plenty of powder snow on the ski slopes, we loved being in Niseko due to the great variety of amazing good food, all within the small town of Niseko Hirafu.  We had so many good meals that I didn't lose any weight despite 6 consecutive days of physical exercise on the ski slopes.

One afternoon we explored the little adjacent village of Izumikyo and found a lovely cosy cafe called "Mozart".  Run by a Japanese lady, Akiko Shimono, it is the sweetest cafe I've been in and truly reminded me a little of Vienna.  She served us some really good coffee and a yummy apple crumble with Hokkaido milk ice cream.

Going with the Japanese theme, upon returning home I got round to trying a sesame chiffon cake recipe from a book by Keiko Ishida.  I'm usually not into frosting but this vanilla frosting surprised me with how nicely it paired with the sesame chiffon which is mildly sweet and taste strongly of sesame.  There are also whole sesame seeds embedded within the soft chiffon adding a surprise crunch when one munches into it.

Unfortunately I'm still not too good with frosting cakes and made a bit of a mess with the uneven layer of frosting over the top and sides.  I also think an 8 inch pan would have produced a taller, prettier cake but I only have a 9 inch pan at home.

Recipe below makes 1 cake, adapted from "Okashi" by Keiko Ishida

(I used a 9 inch round tube pan.  Using a 8 inch pan would produce a taller cake)

70g plain flour
5 egg yolks
20g brown sugar
20g black sesame paste
60g water
40g canola oil
20g sesame seeds (optional)
90g granulated sugar
10g cornstarch
180g egg whites (about 5 to 6 eggs)

For the vanilla frosting:

200g whipping cream
15g granulated sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla essence

Sift flour.  Whisk egg yolks, brown sugar, black sesame paste, water and canola oil in bowl till well mixed.  Fold in flour into egg yolk mixture till its properly incorporated - flour may appear lumpy at first but keep folding till smooth.  Don't be afraid to stir the flour in if necessary.  Set aside.
Place egg whites in bowl of electric mixer and beat on high speed till foamy.  Add granulated sugar and cornstarch in 2 batches while continuing to beat till glossy meringue forms with stiff peaks.  Gently fold meringue into egg yolk & flour mixture one-third at a time.  Be careful not to overmix.
Pour batter into round tube pan and bake in 160C preheated oven for 45 minutes.  Leave cake to cool in pan inverted (this is important).  Remove cake from pan only when it has completely cooled.  Coat with vanilla frosting and decorate as desired. 

Vanilla frosting: Place whipping cream, granulated sugar and vanilla essence into mixer bowl and whisk on medium speed till stiff peaks form. 

Raspberry mousse & vanilla cream cake

We couldn't get enough of the Christmas and New Year celebrations.  Two long weekends in a row was a luxury.  Dragging myself back to work on 3 January was not a pleasant experience.  Thankfully, I have the Chinese New Year holidays towards the end of January to look forward to - that will be another 5 consecutive days of holidays.

I made these raspberry mousse and vanilla cream mini cakes for New Year's Day for some friends who came over for dinner.  We had a little make-your-own-pizza party.  I had the dough prepared in advance, but each pair had to roll it out and decide on the toppings.  It was a lot of hands-on fun and laughs, especially when the last pizza was improvised into a calzone.  A great way to celebrate the start of 2012.

 

I served these mini cakes at the end of the evening while we sat around the table for some green tea and black fruity tea.  It may not be quite the expected dessert after some home-made pizza, but the raspberry mousse and vanilla cream are both light to the palate and not heavy at all.  It was also not overly sweet so one could really taste the raspberry and vanilla flavour separately.  I also added mini crunchy chocolate balls into the vanilla cream layer for additional texture.

Wishing all of you a good 2012 ahead!

 Recipe below makes 12 pieces using 6-cm round cake rings

Butter génoise:

2 eggs

40g granulated sugar

40g plain flour, sifted

20g unsalted butter, melted

Preheat oven to 180 C.  Hand-whisk eggs and sugar over bain marie till mixture reaches 40 C.  Using an electrical whisk, beat eggs and sugar on high speed till fluffy and peaks form.  Melt butter over bain marie.  Fold flour into egg mixture in 3 batches.  Be careful not to overmix. Add a scoop of egg & flour mixture into melted butter and mix well.  Fold butter mixture back into remaining egg & flour mixture and fold gently till batter surface is uniformly shiny.  Pour into 9-inch lined round cake tin and bake for 18 mins.  Invert cake onto a wire rack and let cool before cutting out 12 pieces of 5-cm génoise rounds.  Place génoise rounds at the bottom of 12 lined 6-cm round cake rings.  Set aside.

Vanilla cream layer:

6 tbls milk

2 vanilla beans

2 tbls sugar

2 egg yolks

1 tsp cornstarch

1 tsp custard powder

4.5 gelatin sheets

90g heavy cream

70g granulated sugar (for the italian meringue)

13g water (for the italian meringue)

45g egg white (for the italian meringue)

around 100 pieces of mini crunchy chocolate balls (optional)

Soak gelatin leaves for a few minutes in cold water till bloomed.  Split vanilla beans lengthwise and scrape the seeds into milk.  Heat milk in a small saucepan but do not bring to boil.  Whisk yolks, sugar, cornstarch and custard powder together, then mix in a little of the heated milk, mixing till well blend.  Pour mixture back into saucepan with remaining milk and simmer slightly, stirring constantly.  Remove from heat and add gelatin, mix well.  Set aside to cool.

Whip heavy cream till soft peaks form.  Set aside in fridge, covered.

Prepare the italian meringue: Whisk egg whites using an electric mixer till soft peaks form.  At the same time, heat sugar and water in a small saucepan over medium to high heat.  Use a thermometer to measure the syrup, cooking the sugar syrup till it reaches 118C.  Carefully pour the sugar syup into the mixer bowl with egg whites while running the whisk.  Continue whisking till stiff peaks form and the meringue has cooled down and is glossy.  

Fold italian meringue into milk mixture, then fold in the whipped cream to finish the vanilla cream.

Pour vanilla cream over génoise rounds placed at the bottom of 12 lined 6-cm round cake rings.  The vanilla cream should properly cover the sides and top of the génoise rounds.  Optional: divide the mini crunchy chocolate balls evenly between the cake rings, pressing them into the vanilla cream.  

Leave cake rings to chill in fridge till the vanilla cream has set before removing them from the cake rings (using hot towel or flame torch). 

Raspberry mousse dome:

1 1/2 pieces gelatin sheet

135g raspberry puree

140g heavy cream

55g sugar

25g corn syrup

20g water

50g egg whites

Soak gelatin leaves for a few minutes in cold water till bloomed.  Heat half of raspberry puree in a small saucepan, stirring.  Do not bring to boil.  Remove puree from heat and add gelatin, stirring to dissolve.  Add remaining puree and mix well.  Set aside to cool.

Whip heavy cream till soft peaks form.  Set aside in fridge, covered.

Whisk egg whites using an electric mixer on high speed till soft peak forms.  At the same time, heat sugar, corn syrup and water in a small saucepan over medium to high heat.  Use a thermometer to measure the syrup, cooking the sugar syrup till it reaches 118C.  Carefully pour the sugar syup into the mixer bowl with egg whites while running the whisk.  Continue whisking till stiff peaks form and the meringue has cooled down and is glossy. 

Pour cooled puree over meringue and fold in using a spatula. When the puree has been incorporated, fold in the whipped cream till mousse is just blended evenly.

Pour mousse into 12 pieces of 6-cm dome molds and leave in fridge till set. 

Assembly:  

Gently remove raspberry mousse from dome molds one at a time (by carefully dipping bottom of molds in hot water, taking care not to allow water into the mousse, and rotating the mousse out of the molds), and immediately place mousse dome on top of the vanilla cream layer.  Repeat for remaining 11 pieces.  Wrap exterior of individual mini cakes with dark chocolate decoration and top with pistachios if desired, as shown in photos.

Cocoa and basil buttercream macarons

You must be now thinking that I've gone macaron crazy.  This is the third macaron post this month!

I'm still waiting for Pierre Herme's Macaron book to be delivered to me since ordering it on amazon.com a few weeks ago.  Can't promise that there won't be more macaron posts in January but I think I should try and divert my attention to something else since I'm piling up too many egg yokes in the fridge.

Some friends have asked why I keep making these bite-size macarons instead of the larger ones more commonly sold by pastry shops.  I think its because I find it more appealing being able to pop a whole macaron into my mouth at one go... Or it could also be that my first macaron experience were the luxemburgelis sold by Confiserie Sprüngli in Switzerland.  Luxemburgelis are smaller with very smooth and high dome-shaped shells. 

The basil buttercream pairs well with cocoa shells (with and without cacao nibs topping) and taste distinctly of basil - its a sweet cream with herbal notes. 

This should be my last post for 2011.  Here's wishing everyone a Happy New Year! And a great 2012 ahead!


Recipe below makes around 20 sandwiched macarons
(Adapted from Les Petit Macaron by Kathryn Gordon and Anne E. McBride)

72g almond flour

72g confectioners' sugar

12g cocoa powder

58g egg whites
1 tsp egg white powder

1/4 tsp cream of tartar

75g granulated sugar

28.5g water

1 tbls cacao nibs for topping half of the shells (optional)

Place almond flour, confectioners' sugar and cocoa powder in food processor and pulse for about 40 seconds to combine them into fine powder.  Sift through a fine-mesh strainer into a large mixing bowl.

While preparing the sugar syrup, whisk egg whites, egg white powder and cream of tartar using an electric mixer on medium speed till soft peaks form.  Switch the speed down if egg whites are at soft peaks before syrup is ready.

Heat granulated sugar and water in a small saucepan over medium to high heat.  Stir only at beginning to dissolve the sugar crystals.  Use a thermometer to measure the syrup, cooking the sugar till it reaches 118C.  Carefully pour the sugar syup into the mixer bowl while running the whisk at medium speed.  Continue whisking till stiff peaks form and the meringue has cooled down and is glossy.

Transfer the meringue into the large mixing bowl with the dry ingredients.  With a rubber spatula, fold in the meringue, folding till the batter is loose enough to drip down from the spatula back to the bowl in one continuous lava-like flow. 

Pipe batter onto silicon mat placed on baking sheet.  Top half of the shells with cacao nibs before placing into 65C preheated oven for 15 minutes.  Without removing the macarons, increase the oven temperature to 150C and bake for another 15 minutes (note that I'm using a convection oven).

Slide silicon mat off baking sheet to cool.  Wait for macarons to cool before removing macarons from silicon mat.  

Fill with basil buttercream.

Basil buttercream:

15g basil leaves
86g water

100g granulated sugar
1 1/2 egg whites
pinch of cream of tartar
pinch of fine sea salt
115g unsalted butter, cut into small cubes

Place basil leaves in water and bring it to a boil.  Remove from heat and add sugar.  Set aside for leaves to infuse for at least 20 minutes.  Transfer basil sugar mixture to a food processor and pulse for about 2 minutes till basil leaves are finely chopped.

 

Whisk egg whites, egg white powder and cream of tartar using an electric mixer on medium speed till soft peaks form.  At the same time, heat basil sugar mixture in a small saucepan over medium to high heat.  Use a thermometer to measure the syrup, cooking the basil sugar mixture till it reaches 118C.  Carefully pour the sugar syup into the mixer bowl with egg whites while running the whisk at medium speed.  Continue whisking till stiff peaks form and the meringue has cooled down and is glossy.  Add salt and butter into meringue and continue to whisk on high speed till mixture becomes smooth and fluffy.

Note: If meringue and butter doesn't combine and mixture starts to look like scrambled eggs, don't despair, and don't throw away the mixture!  Chill the mixer bowl and whisk in fridge for about 15 minutes before whisking it at medium speed till the buttercream is formed - it may take a long time (e.g. up to half hour) but the buttercream will come.  Trust me!  It may be helpful to add some additional butter (a few cubes).

 

A photo essay on putting together a beef wellington

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas surrounded by family and friends.

As expected, we had a huge meal at home on Christmas eve.  Herr Scherrer's dad prepared a very impressive beef wellington and I had my camera handy to capture how the different layers were put together.    

We waited in eager anticipation while the beef wellington baked in the oven.  I caught the first glimpse of the beef centre as it was cut - there was just the right amount of pink in the meat.  And it tasted very juicy indeed.  

Here's the photo essay, hope you enjoy it: