visions of clarity...do as infinity

Thursday, July 12, 2007

Baking & Cleaning

Hello

Yesterday, Brenda and Calissa came over to Bake and Clean! xD So! Now part of my room is neat thanks to Calissa's fabulous skills and we've tons of baked products thanks to Brenda's urmmmm encouragement.^_^

First, I would like to apologise for the mostly very dark photos.X__x

I spent most of the morning and evening baking the Korova Cookies for my aunt in Vietnam.=D Batch after batch of chocolate cookies came out of the oven after I laboriously cut up the cookie dough to place neatly on the baking sheet like so:

Of course, these cookies are already baked. The unbaked ones are truly a horror to look at.X__x

I had 2 batches: One with merely chocolate chips another with chocolate chips and almond slices. And of course, because it's for my aunt, I used my darling and very precious Valrhona cocoa powder.xD Hehe. Great stuff! *thumbs up* Also, I ran out of brown sugar so I topped it up with maple sugar.=) I wouldn't use maple sugar next time though. The cocoa taste masks any delicate maple flavours.

The one with merely chocolate chips is quite sweet in my opinion. But the one with almonds is GREAT because the almonds cut through the sweetness quite a bit.^_^ Hooray! I'll definitely be making these with just almonds next time.

The cookie dough is a breeze to make, the only hard part being having to roll up the dough to let it rest in the fridge [for a couple of days] or freeze [up to 2 weeks]. Preparing the dough to bake is a whole different story on the other hand.

Because I usually freeze the dough [it's easier to make all the dough at once then bake over a weekday or something], it is a HORROR to cut. My poor hand has all the marks of the blunt side of the knife blade from pressing down while trying to cut through the dough. You CAN let it defrost a bit before cutting which makes it a little easier but on the whole, it's not that much easier. Haha.=P And it is a horror to cut and place on the baking sheet when completely defrosted.

In any case! I made 3 batches of cookie dough which turned out to be JUST NICE. I was only going to make 2 at first but decided that extras never hurt anyone. Thank goodness I made 3.O__o

Our makeshift cookie packing factory.xD My mom had the job of sealing the containers tightly. [So liu-yi! If it's tough to open, blame my mom. Haha.=P]

Besides the Korova cookies, I tried making the choux pastry from the Paris Sweets cookbook.

It looks fabulous before going into the oven and puffed up nicely but fell almost immediately after taking them out of the oven.X__x And they are extremely eggy and heavy, without the lightness of chouquettes that I was hoping for. (T_T)

I am sticking to Clotilde's [of Chocolate & Zucchini] recipe or my aunt's from now on...-_-"

We did have a chocolate fondue at night though, and the failed chouquettes tasted very good indeed when dipped into the chocolate.=)

Another 2 other cakes were baked! ^_^

We have here "Grandmother's Creamy Chocolate Cake" batter from Paris Sweets. To be honest, it is not so much a cake as a flourless chocolate cake and even that doesn't adequately describe this. It's most like fudge. Really yummy fudge.=D =D =D Mmm. Great stuff! I used the Premium Hershey's Baking Chocolate for this and it tasted great.. Can you imagine if I had used Valrhona? *_*!!!

It's definitely a dark chocolate fudge/creamy chocolate cake. Brenda found it a bit bitter but very nice.=) I thought it was a good attempt at fudge even if I hadn't been expecting fudge.

This recipe also let me try out a method I haven't done before: a bain-marie! ^_^ That is baking the cake which is sitting in a bigger pan filled halfway with water. The main purpose is so that the pan doesn't get all the direct heat but instead gets "gentle" heat that has to go through the water before it reaches the actual cake pan. Another thing is that it allows the baking environment to remain moist so you're cooking with "wet heat". It's kinda like steaming I guess, but doesn't rely ONLY on the heat of the steam to cook. It was a HORROR to remove from the oven and took some manouvering to get the pan out of the boiling hot water.X__x

Another recipe we tried was the Chocolate Almond Cake from Paris Sweets as well. I had great fun mixing it vigorously with a whisk.=) And I've also realised that my mixer isn't powerful enough to make fantastic stiff-peaked egg whites.(T_T) WEEPS. It took me almost 30-45 minutes to do it by hand which is a very bad thing to do in my opinion.

The end result is definitely full of almond flavour [no almond essence needed, just ground almond] and my mom really liked it. She did mention that the cake is a little dry though. Maybe I should bake it for a shorter period of time next time?

In between baking, packing cookies and eating [my happy companions ate up every last ugly cookie.-_-"], Calissa and I attacked the mess in my room with great gusto. Until the end at least, she was bursting with happiness that part of my room is finally neat while I was slowly withering onto the floor.O__o Well. At least my books are nicely lined up, my jrock preciousness is safely in a cupboard, away from sun and rain and half the crap that was on my shelves is safely in bags meant for recycling.

Brenda found wonderful examples of how you should NEVER write a Chinese essay among the junk.X__x I am beyond mortified to say the very least.

Unfortunately for me, most of my room is still covered in utter messiness so I think it'll take a few more attacks before it'll be clean and [mostly] dust-free.^_^ I have to learn to be more vicious with my stuff though and throw EVERYTHING that I know I will never need or miss out [and that's most of the stuff].

I love Calissa and her neatness! ^_^ Thank you my dear! And thanks Brenda for... helping! ^_^ And for documenting the mess in my room with Calissa's camera.-_-"

I would love to say that I'm going back to cleaning my room but that would be outright lying so... I'll just hope everything will be cleaned by next week.^_^

cheers
*[-witchstone-]*

[music : a little pain OLIVIA inspi'REIRA (TRAPNEST)]
[mood : Darker Than Black withdrawals]
[food : --]

Labels: Chocolate Almond Cake, chouquettes, cleaning, Creamy Chocolate Cake, edibles, Korova cookies, misc, Paris Sweets

Sunday, April 15, 2007

A Cooking/Baking Weekend

Hello

I didn't do anything significant this weekend except um... Cook. And bake. O dear! I MUST go shopping soon!!! xD Haha. And get away from some of this domesticity. I'm quite sated in the "must-cook-NOW" department.

I must warn you ahead of time that this will be an image-heavy post.

Yay! So I saw this recipe in Today for Roast Chicken with Rosemary and Lemon. And it sounded SO GOOD! =D And I also made Garlic Bread from 101 Cookbooks and Asparagus with Tarragon Dressing from Donna Hay Magazine.

Part of my mise en place:

The finely minced garlic was ordered by my mother who was all, MAKE IT FINER OR YOUR GARLIC BREAD WILL BE BAD! Or something like that.xD In any case, I found mincing garlic as finely as possible a most therapeutic activity.=) Seriously. I got all zen while using this huge and dangerous looking chopper to chop up garlic as small as I could.^_^

Mincing Garlic = Good for you. [Plus garlic has all those antioxidants and what not! xD]

The chicken before going into the oven! I hate touching raw meat so I used chopsticks to attempt to poke the garlic and all that marinade around the chicken. I love chopsticks. They are SO useful.

The final product after 40 minutes in the oven. Sadly, I think rubbing all that marinade in by hand would have been better in infusing the chicken with more flavour.

For the garlic bread,

This:

Plus this:

Equals this:

xD Garlic-Lemon Bread with chives. YUMMY. This was actually quite good except that I felt I could have let MORE butter soak into the bread. Which would make it very good but very very very very very fattening.=S But seriously. The lemon brightened it up and made it really yummy.xD

The tarragon dressing on asparagus.=) The recipe called for white wine vinegar but I couldn't find that in Cold Storage so I used this Japanese brown rice vinegar we had lying around at home instead. It was quite yummy.=D Beams. The taste of tarragon is pretty unique and slightly spicy [I tried eating it on its own when I was plucking it off the stem because I've never tried tarragon before] but quite aggressive. It is not a mild-flavoured herb.

I also made my usual chocolate cupcakes.=D Beams.

That day, Jiamin and I watched The Neighbour No. 13, starring Shun Oguri and this really ugly other guy. It was just.. FREAKY. O.o O my gosh. It was shot in a very suspenseful way and was quite art-housey because... the ending was very HUH-DON'T-UNDERSTAND. Haha.=X And Shun Oguri was like, hardly the lead actor there.-_-"

Thankfully, after Joyce came and I had fixed my old DVD player on top of the new one [the new one CAN'T PLAY JAPAN DVDs!!!!!!!!!!! Of all the horrors. I was MOST upset. But with our superior technical abilities, we managed to fix the old DVD player to the new sound system so we can watch alice nine. and Gackt in concert but with surround sound! xD Yay!] we watched a bit of alice nine.'s Alice in WonderFilm! xD It horrified Joyce. Haha. She was less horrified at Gackt's Sixth Day and Seventh Night though. Yay for Gackt and his drama!! =D

Then we watched Gigolo Wannabe which had a MOST unsatisfying ending.-_-" But! Shun Oguri had a MUCH bigger role here and was very charming and goodlooking so that was good.=D Haha. *bimbotic* It had a very simplistic plot that leaves for a nice-to-watch but not-critically-acclaimed show.=P

For dinner, we snacked on the cupcakes, the Dutch-Swiss rolls and Japanese instant noodles!!! xD

Joyce excitedly took photos of the instant noodles because each flavour is represented by an animal and then these animals are featured as miniature fishcakes in the noodles! =) Very cute. So here you go:

^_^ Kawaii! I liked the... Ummm.. Can't remember. Haha.=X The panda one I think? Plus it had thin noodles, which I love.^_^

Then we watched SNOW QUEEN!!! Hyun Bin! xD xD xD Wah, it is SUCH a sad drama. O goodness me. (T_T) Too many sad moments!!! We must find 1 or 2 weekends to finish the series!!! Beams.=D

Then today, I made low-fat banana bread for my mom:

It's very very very moist.=) And it had quite a good flavour. But still, not the banana bread/cake texture I'm looking for. Hmm.

And I baked up my korova cookies.=D For this batch, I used my darling Valrhona cocoa powder instead of the Margaret River one that I used the last time.

It made SUCH a difference!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The flavour this time is REALLY rich, flavourful and almost-complex! xD And SO chocolatey!!! Yummy. My mom still thinks it's too sweet. I must remember to cut down on some sugar next time.

But omg. I am SO using Valrhona cocoa powder from now on!!! xD xD xD BEAMS! Ahaha. Sadly though, my mom reminded me that Valrhona is ummm REALLY expensive. X__x O dear. But heck it's worth it! xD Like the last time I made these, my mom kept going, HEY! That one's BROKEN! *eats* =P And sadly, I was doing the same. Haha.=X

I also got much more even/nicer cookie shapes this time.=) The last time, they spread too much.xP Must remember to cut them thick from now on.=)

Thank you Pierre Herme for coming up with this wonderful recipe! And thank you Dorie Greenspan for adapting it for the home cook!!! xD

Yay for baking! Boo for calories. At least this might cure some Monday blues.^_^"
cheers
*[-witchstone-]*

[music : Training Days 2006 Drug Party set list + Missing Gackt]
[mood : ^_^]
[food : Korova Cookies!]

cch: Ahem. Why do I need to BUDGET for UNIVERSITY?! -_-" And go away. You get the most from Temasek and that's ALL you're left with?! -_____-" Omg! I am earning FAR BELOW the median!!! (T_T) Sobs. And indeed my friends are all rich. WAILS. *counts pennies in a corner*

Wendaye: I actually think the squirrel is cute! Haha.=P Omg! I'm going to see King Lear with my brother!!! =D =D =D Beams. Like, omg. SO EXSPOONSIVE. X__x But yay Ian McKellan or however you spell his name! ^_^ I have to ummmm read King Lear... Soon.^_^" Have you bought tickets? We can all wave at each other in the theatre!!! Haha.=P

Labels: alice nine, Asparagus with Tarragon Dressing, baking, Banana Bread, chocolate cupcakes, cooking, edibles, Gackt, Garlic Lemon Bread, Korova cookies, Roast Chicken with Lemon and Rosemary, Snow Queen

Thursday, March 08, 2007

Korova Cookies

Hello

^_^ Today, I baked the Korova Cookies.=D I made the batter a few days ago and put it in the freezer. You have to chill it for at least 2 hours before baking anyway, and the batter keeps in the fridge for 3 days or the freezer for a month.

The recipe warned that they would be soft when first out of the oven but as they cooled, the outsides crisped up while the insides remain nice and chewy.=D =D =D

They were YUMMY, if I do say so myself.=D I think they tasted even better when I sensed victory against the cookie battle.xD I've always made terrible cookies: they either spread and become burnt, turn a funny colour [I had orange ones once.O.o] or.. basically they end in disaster. But these! OH THESE! xD

They are chocolatey but not too sweet and the chocolate chips add a wonderful, extra chocolate flavour.^_^ They are supposed to resemble sables and they do have that gorgeous sandy texture.^_^

I ended up with a LOT. The recipe says you get 36 but since I am perpetually sizing my end products down [I think small baked goods are nicer and cuter! xD], I ended up with a TON of cookies. Haha. ^_^

Thank you Dorie Greenspan! You have once again triumphed with a fabulous recipe! ^_^ And thank you Pierre Herme for giving her your wonderfully brilliantly yummy recipe!

The batter is a BREEZE to whip up and it's even easier to bake! ^_^ Just remember that as with all recipes, if you follow the "cups" measurement, do so all the way and vice versa for metric measurements.=)

Korova Cookies / Sables Korova
Adapted from Pierre Herme Paris, Taken from "Paris Sweets" by Dorie Greenspan

1.25 cups (175 grams) all-purpose flour
1/3 cup (30 grams) Dutch-processed cocoa powder [I used the Margaret River Chocolate Company one]
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 stick plus 3 tablespoons (5.5 ounces; 150 grams) unsalted butter, at room temperature [just softened actually, room temperature here is WAYYY too liquidy soft. Haha.]
2/3 cup (120 grams) packed light brown sugar
1/4 cup (50 grams) sugar
1/2 teaspoon fleur de sel or 1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt [I used sea salt since I don't have fleur de sel.(T_T)]
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
5 ounces (150 grams) bittersweet chocolate, chopped into small bits [Ms Greenspan suggests Valrhona Guanaja but 1) I'm too poor 2) I don't usually have Valrhona on hand 3) Chocolate chips are much easier no?]

1. Sift the flour, cocoa and baking soda together and keep close at hand. Put the butter in the bowl of a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and beat on medium speed until the butter is soft and creamy. (Alternatively, you can do this and all subsequent steps by hand, working with a sturdy rubber spatula.) [I relied on my trusty wooden spoon. Yay!]
Add both sugars, the salt, and vanilla extract and beat for another minute or two. Reduce the mixer speed to low and add the sifted dry ingredients. Mix only until the dry ingredients are incorporated - the dough will look crumbly, and that's just right. For the best texture, you want to work the dough as little as possible once the flour is added. Toss in the chocolate pieces and mix only to incorporate.

2. Turn the dough out onto a smooth work surface and squeeze it so that it sticks together in large clumps. [I did this in the bowl because urmmm. It's less messy? Haha.=X] Gather the dough into a ball, divide it in half, and working with one half at a time, shape the dough into logs that are 1.5 inches (4cm) in diameter. (Cookie dough logs have a way of ending up with hollow centers, so as you're shaping each log, flatten it once or twice and roll it up from one long side to the other, just to make certain you haven't got an air channel.)
Wrap the logs in plastic wrap and chill them for at least 2 hours. (Wrapped air-tight, the logs can be refrigerated for up to 3 days or frozen for 1 month.)

3. Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit (165 degrees Celsius). [Don't you just LOVE how she gives both Imperial and metric measurements?? xD] Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper and keep them close at hand. [I ADORE my Silpat sheet!!! xD xD xD It's BRILLIANT, never has anything stuck to it and is a happy camper in the oven!]

4. Working with a sharp thin-bladed knife, slice the logs into rounds that are 1/2 inch (1.5cm) thick. (Don't be upset if the rounds break; just squeeze the broken-bit back onto the cookie.) [They break. A LOT.-_-"] Place the cookies on the parchment-lined sheets, leaving about 1 inch (2.5cm) spread space between them. [I suggest slightly more, especially if the dough is soft as these cookies spread quite a bit.]

5. Bake only one sheet of cookies at a time, and bake each sheet for 12 minutes. The cookies will not look done, nor will they be firm, but that's just the way they should be. [TRUST HER ON THIS. *nods*] Transfer the baking sheet to a cooling rack and let the cookies stand until they are only just warm or until they reach room temperature - it's your call. [They are soft when warm, crispy when cooler.] Repeat with the second sheet of cookies.

Keeping: The dough can be made ahead and chilled or frozen. If you've frozen the dough, you needn't defrost it before baking - just slice the logs and bake the cookies 1 minute longer. [The 1 minute is unnecessary because the weather here is so warm, they start defrosting REALLY quick.] Packed airtight, baked cookies will keep at room temperature for up to 3 days [let's see if they last that long..]; they can be frozen for up to 1 month.

^_^ VERY worth trying I say! Wee!

Anyway, during the random breaks I had today, I was brainstorming my foodblog template.=D It's hard because omygoodness I CANNOT DRAW. *sigh* I swear, my sketches are HIDEOUS.-_-" I don't know why I bother apart from hoping I'll remember later on what I was attempting to draw.. *deep sigh* It's times like this when I wish I were more gifted in the art department.

I'm also a LOT busier now! ^_^ I swear, I'm the scanner/CD-burner/photographer nowadays.O.o And apparently, I get extended lunch breaks on Fridays while I hunt down material for competitive reports! HURRAY! =D =D =D Sadly, if I wear uncomfortable shoes, that will be the END of me.

Kino sale tomorrow! And Korova Cookies! YIPPEE!
cheers
*[-witchstone-]*

[music : Velvet alice nine. + 再会~story~ Gackt]
[mood : ^_^]
[food : COOKIES! xD xD xD]

Labels: baking, edibles, Korova cookies, misc, work

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