Double choco chip cookies

A perrrrfect afternoon snack, with coffee.

Double choco chip cookies
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup cocoa powder (or half cocoa powder, half melted baking chocolate)
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt 1 cup butter, softened
1.5 cups white sugar (or use half brown brown and half white)
2 eggs
2 tablespoons vanilla extract 1 or 2 cups semisweet chocolate chips (or use M&Ms)1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Preparation
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. In large bowl, beat butter, sugar, eggs, and vanilla until light and fluffy. Combine the flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt; stir into the butter mixture until well blended. Mix in the chocolate chips and walnuts.
3. Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets. You can also refrigerate before dropping onto sheets. Bake for 7 minutes in the preheated oven, or just until set. Cool slightly on the cookie sheets before transferring to wire racks to cool completely.

Banoffee pie

Jaw-achingly sweet but so addictive.

Ingredients
1 can condensed milk about 400g
3 large bananas
One packet digestive cookies (eg McVities)
Half-pint of double cream, or whipping cream
2 tbsp butter or margarine

Crush the biscuits in a ziplock or any plastic bag with a rolling pin until reduced to crumbs. Gently melt butter in a saucepan. Mix butter with the crumbs until they start to bind together, and transfer to a round Pyrex dish. Pat down with a spoon or your fingers. Make sure entire base of dish is covered. Allow to set in the fridge.

Boil can of condensed milk -- unopened! -- for 2 hours and make sure can is entirely submerged in the water. Allow can to cool down and when cool enough to handle, open carefully. Spoon the toffee from the can onto the biscuit base of the Pyrex dish. Refrigerate again.

Slice the bananas and arrange them decoratively on top of the toffee. Whip the cream until peaking, then fold on top and smooth out. Dust with chocolate powder for effect. Keep in the fridge until needed, covered with clingfilm.

Pinoy-style chicken macaroni salad

When I make this in Hong Kong, I usually omit the pineapple -- I like to make it more tart than in the usual version we make at home.

Ingredients
· 250 g. of elbow or salad macaroni
· 2 cups mayonnaise
· 1/2 kilo of chicken breast
· 1 celery stalk, diced
· 2 tbsp minced red onion
· 2 hardboiled eggs chopped
· 1 cup (or more) of drained crushed pineapple (15 oz can) - optional
· ¼ cup sweet pickle relish
· 1 cup diced or shredded cheese
· 1/2 cup chopped carrot (1 small carrot, maybe boiled)
· a handful or two of raisins
· salt, white pepper, bit of sugar

1. Drain the pineapples and pickle relish. Reserve some of the juices in case you need to season the mayonnaise later.

2. Boil chicken breast in salted water, then drain and chop. Reserve liquid

3. Bring chicken liquid to a boil, cook pasta till al dente.

4. In a big bowl, combine all ingredients except the pasta and mayonnaise.

5. Add about a cup of mayonnaise, salt, pepper and sugar. Toss until well blended.

6. Add another cup of mayonnaise, toss to blend then taste. Add more salt, pepper and/or sugar.

Chill, in a covered container, for several hours. Before serving, you can add a few more tbsps of mayo to moisten, and maybe a bit more salt and pepper to taste as the macaroni would have absorbed most of the saltiness.

Chocolate cream pie

Always a bestseller at parties. I get asked to make this loads of times!

For crust:
1 1/2 cups chocolate wafer crumbs (eg Nabisco chocolate wafers)
5 tbsp melted unsalted butter
1/4 cup granulated sugar

For filling
2/3 cup sugar
1/4 cup cornstarch
1/2 tsp salt
4 large egg yolks
3 cups whole milk
5 oz bittersweet chocolate, melted
2 oz unsweetened chocolate, melted
2 tbsp unsalted butter, softened
1 tsp vanilla

For topping
3/4 cup heavy cream
1 tbsp sugar

Make crust: Put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 350°F. Stir together crumbs, butter, and sugar and press on bottom and up side of a 9-inch (1 quart) pie plate and bake about 15 minutes, until crisp. Cool on a rack.

Make filling: Whisk together sugar, cornstarch, salt, and yolks in a 3-quart heavy saucepan until combined well, then add milk in a stream, whisking. Bring to a boil over moderate heat, whisking, then reduce heat and simmer, whisking, 1 minute (filling will be thick).Force filling through a fine-mesh sieve into a bowl, then whisk in chocolates, butter, and vanilla. Cover surface of filling with a buttered round of wax paper and cool completely, about 2 hours. Spoon filling into crust and chill pie, loosely covered, at least 6 hours.

Make topping: Just before serving, beat cream with sugar in a bowl using an electric mixer until it just holds stiff peaks, then spoon on top of pie. Make sure cream, bowl and beaters are very cold--refrigerate a few minutes if necessary.Pie can be chilled up to 1 day without the topping.

Banana muffins

Rack in center of oven. Preheat to 375 F. Grease a 12-muffin pan or line with paper cups.

Whisk together thoroughly:
1.5 cups all-purpose flour
½ cup wheat flour / wheat bran
2 tsp baking powder
½ tsp baking soda
¼ tsp salt
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/8 tsp ground nutmeg

Stir in: 2/3 cup coarsely chopped pecans, hazelnuts or walnuts

Whisk together in a large bowl:
1 large egg
¾ packed light brown sugar
1 1/3 cup mashed ripe banana (2 to 3)
6 tbsp veg oil
1 tsp vanilla

Add the flour mixture and mix together with a few light strokes just until the dry ingredients are moistened. Do not overmix; the batter should not be smooth.

Pour batter into muffin cups and bake until a toothpick inserted in one of the muffins comes out clean, about 18 min. Let cool for 2 to 3 minutes before removing from pan.

Carrot-banana cake

Ingredients for cake:
2 cups all purpose flour
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup vegetable oil
1 cup white sugar
1 cup firmly packed golden brown sugar
4 large eggs
2 cups finely grated carrots (about 1 1/2 large)
1 cup mashed ripe banana
3/4 cup chopped pecans/almonds/walnuts/hazelnuts

Frosting
1 8-ounce package cream cheese, room temperature
1 cup powdered sugar
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Additional ground cinnamon

For cake:

Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease and flour 12-cup Bundt pan. Sift (it’s important to sift!) first 4 ingredients into medium bowl. Whisk oil, the 2 sugars, and eggs in large bowl until well blended. Mix in dry ingredients. Add carrots, banana and pecans and blend well. Transfer batter to prepared pan. Bake until tester inserted near center of cake comes out clean, about 1 hour. Let cake stand in pan 10 minutes. Turn out cake onto rack and cool.

For frosting:
Beat cream cheese, powdered sugar, butter and 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon in medium bowl until smooth. Spread frosting over cake. Sprinkle with additional cinnamon. (Can be prepared 1 day ahead. Cover with cake dome and refrigerate.)

Serves 12.

Adapted from epicurious. You can also make this as muffins: Bake 25 minutes at 350. To reduce fat, replace with oil with a cup of applesauce. You can use 1 cup of carrots (about 2 carrots) instead of 1.5, 3 bananas instead of 1, and leave out pineapple and pecans. Feel free to reduce sugar, to taste.

Best brownies

· 1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter
· 4 oz fine-quality bittersweet chocolate (not unsweetened), coarsely chopped
· 3/5 cup all-purpose flour
· ½ teaspoon baking powder
· ¼ teaspoon salt
· 1 ¾ cups sugar
· 2 large eggs
· 1 teaspoon vanilla
· 3 oz walnut pieces, coarsely chopped (3/4 cup)

Put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 350°F. Grease a 9-inch square baking pan (2 inches deep) and line bottom and sides with wax paper, then butter paper.

Melt butter and chocolate in a medium heatproof bowl set over a saucepan of simmering water, stirring occasionally, until smooth.

Whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt in a small bowl.

Whisk together sugar, eggs, and vanilla in a large bowl, then pour in chocolate mixture, whisking until combined well. Whisk in flour mixture, then stir in walnuts and transfer batter to baking pan.

Bake until top is shiny and set and sides have begun to pull away slightly (a wooden pick or skewer will not come out clean), about 35 minutes, for fudgy brownies; or until wooden pick or skewer comes out clean, 50 minutes to 1 hour total, for cakey brownies.


Cool brownies completely in pan on a rack. Invert onto a cutting board, remove paper, and cut into squares.

Cooled brownies keep, layered between sheets of wax paper, in an airtight container at room temperature 2 days.

Makes 16 (2-inch) squares.

Cook's notes, Feb. 27, 2010
* You can bake brownies as cupcakes. Easy, no mess.
* Reducing sugar to 1 1/4 cup for a less sweet taste.
 

Chocolate espresso cookies

3 ounces unsweetened chocolate, chopped
1 cup (6 oz) semisweet chocolate chips for batter
1/2 cup unsalted butter, cut into pieces

3 large eggs
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
2 tbsps finely ground dark-roast coffee beans

1 cup all-purpose flour
1/3 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt

1 cup walnuts, chopped
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips for final mix (optional)


Preheat oven to 350°F and grease 2 large heavy baking sheets.

In a double boiler or a metal bowl set over a saucepan of barely simmering water melt unsweetened chocolate, 1 cup chocolate chips, and butter, stirring until smooth, and remove top of double boiler or bowl from heat. In a bowl with an electric mixer beat eggs, sugar, and ground coffee on high speed until very thick and pale and mixture forms a ribbon when beaters are lifted, about 3 minutes, and beat in chocolate mixture. Into mixture sift in flour, baking powder, and salt and stir until just combined. Stir in remaining chocolate chips (if using) and walnuts.

Drop batter by heaping tablespoons about 2 inches apart onto baking sheets and bake in batches in middle of oven 8 to 10 minutes, or until puffed and cracked on top. Cool cookies in baking sheets 1 minute and transfer to racks to cool completely.

Makes about 30 cookies.

Can also be baked as brownies: Pour into a pregreased 9" square pyrex pan and bake at 350 for about 25-30 minutes.

Adapted from epicurious

My first-ever pound cake

Happy birthday Mommy! I only wish I was there, so that I can make this cake - my first ever non-carrot loaf, non-banana loaf attempt - for you.

It looks so round, so golden, so perfect I don't even want to eat it!

Pound cakes are ancient. This recipe dates back to 'American Cookery' by Amelia Simmons in 1796.

"POUND CAKE
One pound sugar, one pound butter, one pound flour, one pound or ten eggs, rose water one gill, spices to your taste; watch it well, it will bake in a slow oven in 15 minutes."

But of course modern pounds are much lighter. I made mine based on Nick Malgieri's Orange Poppy Seed Cake from his Perfect Cakes. It's great fun -- after the cake is baked and while it's still hot you prick it all over and pour three-quarters of a cup of orange syrup until all is absorbed.

This is going to be fantastically fruity and citrusy and damp. Too bad I didn't have any poppy seeds.

Today I will not write about food

A rose for our dearest B - It's twilight now, but the sun really will shine tomorrow. You will smile again tomorrow. I promise.

Ate

Chocoholic's Sunday

I once asked a friend, if you had to choose, would you rather give up coffee or chocolate?

To this day, she still hasn't come up with an answer.

Neither have I.
~ ~ ~

The cookies above were inspired by an Epicurious recipe for Mint Chocolate Cookies. "Inspired" because I don't happen to have any sort of mint flavoring in my cupboard, so used vanilla instead. The cookies came out dark, chewy and oh-so-rich. The dough was sticky though - maybe it's time to get an electric mixer.

Happy New Year!

Last week was my eighth Chinese New Year in Hong Kong. In previous years I never paid it much attention; it was merely an exotic holiday that came too close on the heels of Christmas and (to me, the real) New Year to be especially meaningful.

This year was different. Perhaps having acquired my permanent residency in HK made me feel like I belonged here. Or maybe it was the thought that by June I will be temporarily leaving this place, made me appreciate its character and many festivals more. So in the past few days my friends and I trekked to the flower markets, watched the multimillion-dollar fireworks extravaganza over the harbor, gorged ourselves silly on dimsum, Sichuan and Vietnamese food, and admired the decorations around town (various shades of eyepopping red). You can find the complete body of evidence here.

And now a bit of forecast for 2006 for those of us born in the Year of the Horse:

The Horse is the most fiercely independent animal sign, extremely sensitive to others, loves companionship, popular (oh yeah??), hotblooded, impatient (yehhh!) and falls in love too easily (hah!). Your galloping spirit is well suited for the busy year ahead. Run swiftly at the front of the field to capitalise on exciting opportunities when they present themselves – but don’t speed too far ahead of yourself or waste your energy on the latest craze. Sometimes you are too independent for your own good.

Career prospects are especially promising and even though wealth holds little interest for you, finances are favourable so long as you are prudent with spending. Draw comfort and support from the companionship you crave. Both relationships and home life should make you appreciate what's in your own backyard, with some memorable highlights. Despite your roaming nature, curb restless tendencies – your life is active enough and the year is lucky if you accept the support of those closest to you.

And if you're not a Horse, well then check this out.