Pandan Almond Cookies

Adapted & modified from Kenneth Goh's recipe.

Ingredients

*makes about 50 cookies

250g plain flour

100g chopped almonds 

75g butter (I used salted)

100g castor sugar

1 egg

1/2tsp pandan extract

Method

1. Preheat oven to 150C.
2. Grease and line baking tray.
3. Sieved flour, set aside.
4. Cream butter and sugar until light & fluffy.
5. Add egg & pandan extract and mix until well-combined, then add in sieved flour and mix to a dough.
6. Roll out the dough and cut them out with cookies cutter.
7. Send to bake for 15min, then flip them over and bake for another 15min.
8. Leave to cool completely on cooling rack.

This is the plunger that I used.

And I thought they looked like jade before baking!

Baumkuchen (German version Kek Lapis)

A healthier version of the traditional Kek Lapis.  

Original recipe shared by Daniel Leong.

Ingredients
200g butter (as a personal preference, I use salted butter)
6 egg yolks
60g castor sugar
50g almond powder
100g plain flour
1tsp lapis spice*
50g milk
1tsp vanilla extract
2tsp rum*

60g castor sugar
6 egg whites

*these ingredients are optional.  I added them as I wanted a distinctive kek lapis taste.

Method

1. Preheat oven at 240C.
2. Grease and line 6” square baking tin.
3. Sieve flour with lapis spice.  Set aside.
4. Beat butter with 60g sugar until fluffy, then add in yolk, one at a time, until well combined.
5. Add milk, vanilla & rum until well combined.
6. Mix in sieved flour mixture & almond powder until well combined.  Set aside.
7. Beat egg whites until foamy, then add in remaining 60g sugar gradually, and continue whisking until attained firm peak.
8. Fold in meringue mixture into yolk mixture.
9. Change your oven to ‘top heat’ mode.
10. Using a ladle, transfer 2 scopes to the baking tin.  Using the back of a spoon/spatula, level the batter.  Sent to bake for 3-5mins, or until the top turns brown.
11. When the first layer is down, remove from oven and transfer baking tin to a heat resistant surface.  Using a lapis press (I don’t have one, so I used the back of a frying spatula), lightly press down the cake surface to release any air bubbles.  Then repeat step#10 for the next layer.
12. Repeat the step#10 & #11 until you finish all the batter.  For the last layer, keep the cake in the oven for extra 10-15mins, or till the top turns to desired brown.
13. Once baked, remove and leave to cool completely on cooling rack.

Original recipe shared by Daniel.

This is the lapis spice that I used.

Egg whites to be beaten till firm peak.

My final batter.

I used this ladle.

Level 2 scope of batter for each layer.

First layer baked.

(I should have bake them for few mins longer to get it more browned!)

When I was baking the first few layers, I used the back of a small baking tin (the size of a muffin) to act as my 'press'.

Once it got higher, I used the back of a frying spatula to press down each layer.

I'm using a conventional oven.  Selecting 2 Level Convection Bake for top heat mode.

Baked and done!  I love the brown top!

Almond & Melon Seeds Crisp

Recipe adapted from Evangeline Diana Lee.
A great recipe to clear the egg whites after making the Pineapple Tarts!

Ingredients
100g almond flakes
50g melon seeds
3 egg whites
2tbsp vegetable oil
70g castor sugar
40g plain flour
Black & white sesame seeds to sprinkle


Method

1. Lined baking tray and preheat oven at 180C.
2. Mix egg whites, sugar, oil & flour until well-combined.
3. Add in almond flakes & melon seeds and mix well.
4. Transfer mixture into baking tray and spread them thinly & evenly over the tray. 
5. Sprinkle the sesame seeds over the mixture.
6. Send to bake for 18mins.
7. Once baked, quickly lift the baking paper to a heat-resistance surface (eg: silpat or wooden choping board) and cut them into squares or rectangular shapes. Note:  they will turn hard once cooled.
8. Then transfer to cooling rack and leave to cool completely before storing them in air-tight containers. 

Original recipe.

Before baking.

Fresh out from oven!

Baked, cut & packed!

Pineapple Tarts (melt-in-the-mouth)

Tart recipe adapted from Nasi Lemak Lover.

Ingredients
*Makes about 100 tarts

350g butter (I used salted)
100g condensed milk
510g plain flour
2 egg yolks

700g Pineapple filling (I used store-bought types, but if you prefer to make them yourself, you can take a look at this Kenneth Goh's recipe that just required 30mins to make!)

Eggwash: 2 egg yolks + 1tsp water + 1tsp oil

Optional (depending on design): Sesame seeds & green coloring


Method

1. Roll pineapple jam into balls of 8g each (Tip: wet your hands while rolling, it'll prevent the jam from sticking to your hand) I did this the night before baking the tarts, and store them in an airtight container and left it in the fridge.
   
2. Cream butter and condensed milk with mixer, until light & well-combined.
   
3. Add in egg yolks, one at a time.
   
4. Then mix in sieved flour (half by mixer, and the other half manually).
   
5. When the mixture comes to a soft dough, roll each dough into balls of 10g.
   
6. Shaping into balls:
   (1) Flatten a piece of dough on your palm, then place a piece of the roll pineapple filling in the middle. Seal the edges of the dough and roll it into a round ball shape.
   (2) Apply egg wash and sprinkle some sesame seeds in the center.
   
7. Shaping into pineapples:
   (1) You need to color a small portion of the dough with green coloring.
   (2) Flatten a piece of dough (original) on your palm, then place a piece of the roll pineapple filling in the middle. Seal the edges of the dough and roll it into a round ball shape.
   (3)  Press a skewer lightly across the ball to create the lines.
   (4) Using a small flower plunger, cut out 3 small flowers from the green dough.
   (5) Stick them on the sides of the ball to create the leaf.
   (6) Apply egg wash.
   
8. Shaping into nastar:  Transfer dough to the nastar plunger and pipe out a strips of dough, add a piece of pineapple jam, roll up and cut off extra dough.
   
9. Send to bake at 160C for 20mins.
   
10. Once baked, leave to cool completely then store in airtight container.

The jams I used.

Roll them into balls of 8g each.

Pineapple Balls: before baking.

Pineapple Balls: baked!

Pineapple shapes: before baking.

Pineapple shapes: baked!

This is the flower plunger that I used to make the leaf on the pineapple shape tarts.

Nastar: before bake

Nastar: baked!  For this shape, I did it without eggwash.

This is the plunger that I used for the nastar shapes.

Illustrations on the nastar shaping.
Photo credits to Food4Tots.

All baked & packed!

Almond Cookies

This recipe was originally shared by Daniel Leong, and is also a variation from the Peanut Cookies  I made last week.

Ingredients
*yields 70 cookies

150g SR flour
60g icing sugar - sieved
80g chopped almonds
80g ground almond powder
100g corn oil
1/2 tsp vanilla essence

Eggwash: 1 egg yolk + 1/2tsp water + 1/2 tsp oil
Some sesame seeds to sprinkle


Method

1. Preheat oven to 160C and lined baking tray.
2. Mix flour, sugar, chopped almond & almond powder together.
3. Add in oil & vanilla, and mix together.  The mixture will appear crumbly.
4. Using a round teaspoon, press the dough into the spoon, then push on the edge of the dough, and it will glide out from the other end (see illustrations here).
5. Apply eggwash and sprinkle some sesame seeds in the enter of each cookie.
6. Sent to bake for 15mins.
7. Leave to cool completely on cooling rack.

After shaping.

Apply eggwash and sprinkle sesame seeds in the center.

Baked and packed!

Peanut Cookies

Another CNY bake.

Modified from the recipe shared by Daniel Leong.

Ingredients
*yields 70 cookies

150g SR flour
60g icing sugar - sieved
80g chopped roasted peanuts
80g ground peanut powder
100g corn oil
1/2 tsp vanilla essence


Method

1. Preheat oven to 170C and lined baking tray.
2. Mix flour, sugar, chopped peanut & peanut powder together.
3. Add in oil & vanilla, and mix together.  The mixture will appear crumbly.
4. Using a round teaspoon (see below picture), press the dough into the spoon, then push on the edge of the dough, and it will glide out from the other end.
5. Sent to bake for 15mins.
6. Leave to cool completely on cooling rack.

Original recipe shared by Daniel Leong.

The mixture will appear crumbly, it's fine.

I used this spoon to shape the cookies.  I bought it from Daiso, it came as a set of measuring spoons.

Press the mixture into the spoon.

Press the edge of it, and it will glide out.

Before baking.

Baked & packed!

Kueh Bahulu

Another great option as CNY goodies.  I don't have the baking mould for this so made them with mini paper liners instead.

Adapter from Nasi Lemak Lover.

Ingredients
*yields about 50 small cakes

3 eggs
100g caster sugar
35g cake flour
70g SR flour

Method

1. Preheat oven to 200C.
2. Place 2 mini liners together (so that the liners can support the weight of the batter), and put them on the baking tray.
3. Sieve both flours together, set aside.
4. Beat egg & sugar together until attain ribbon stage.  Took me about 10mins on medium speed.
5. Change to low speed on mixer, then add in sieved flours.
6. After removing bowl from mixer, fold in few times, to be sure all the flour is well incorporated into the batter.
7. Fill up batter into paper liner.  I filled them almost full to get the nice hump.
8. Send to bake for 10-12mins, or until top turn golden brown.
9. Once baked, leave to cool completely.

Original recipe from Nasi Lemak Lover

Fill the liners almost full with batter.

Baked and nicely packed!  They look so cute!

Just a bit bigger than a one dollar one :)