Roasted potatoes

Sharing my friend, Francine's, recipe for roasted potatoes. Her recipe yields potatoes that are soft on the inside but with a maximized surface area for crispiness on the outside.

Ingredients

1. Potatoes
2. Vegetable oil, or olive oil (not extra virgin)
3. Salt 
4. Rosemary

Instructions

1. Boil skinned potatoes in a pot with salt.
2. (After 10-15 min) Drain the water after the potatoes are ~50% soft.
3. With the cover attached, shake the potatoes inside the pot. The collisions give the potatoes rough edges, which will maximize the surface area for roasting.
4. Place the potatoes on a fully oiled pan (oil should be around 1mm thick).
5. Sprinkle rosemary generously over the potatoes.
6. Bake for 30 min at 375 degF.
7. Flip the potatoes over, and bake for another 30 min, until a nice golden, crispy crust forms.
8. Ready to serve! Best eaten hot!

Look at that crust!!

Tea smoked chicken

Sharing a recipe for tea smoked chicken, that I received from my friend.

This recipe is super simple, takes minimal effort, yet yields a juicy, tender chicken with crispy pepper-crusted skin, yum!

Ingredients

1. One whole chicken, or chicken parts that you would like to cook
2. Soy sauce
3. Olive oil
4. Black pepper
5. 2 cups of tea at room temperature (any flavor of black or green tea, I used Constant Comment black tea, with some bergamot flavors)
6. (optional) Mushrooms, vegetables, etc.

Instructions

1. Generously rub the chicken all over with soy sauce and olive oil. This gives the chicken a nice golden brown crust after baking.
2. Sprinkle black pepper on the surface of the chicken.
3. Pour the tea into the pan, add the vegetables (optional) on the side
4. Place inside the oven at 375 degF for 1.5 to 2 hours.
5. Wait to eat!

You don't have to bast the chicken or do anything fancy! Because the steam from the tea will make sure the chicken stays moist, you don't even have to cover the meat with foil. Isn't it amazing??

The result:

And that's it!! Ready to serve to guests at a dinner party or for several yummy meals.

My friends commented that it tasted a bit like Chinese herbed chicken, though this was so so so much easier to make. And the skin! Heavenly.

Pork cheek

Lately I have been frequenting the Mountain View farmer's market, and getting there early for... guess what? Pork cheek! This is one of the more tender and succulent (though fatty in some places) parts of the pig that is not too well-known, partly due to its small limited quantities. However, this cut is also pretty cheap, half the price of pork chop! The lady that I buy from (Full of Life farms -- haha what an irony) says that they normally one have 1 or 2 packs of cheek every week, therefore I try to wake up early on Sunday to get there when they first open. My efforts have paid off so far ^_^
Check out what I've made with my pork cheek (costing only $2.60) this week! 
Yakitori! Marinated in teriyaki sauce, sesame oil and white pepper. I grilled my meat by putting the skewers on a metal steamer rack, in the oven at 375 F. Just remember to put some foil under the meat to catch catch the dripping oil and sauce, and turn the meat occasionally for thorough grilling.

Status: Half-cooked after 5 min at 375F on the grill

Ready for dinner!

Bread pudding

Bread pudding is one of my favorite comfort desserts! I have been craving it for a while now, so I finally got down to making it =)
Here's the recipe (really easy) to make a 8-inch square pan of moist bread pudding!

Ingredients

1. 6 slices of bread (stale bread preferred)
2. 1/2 cup raisins
3. 4 eggs, beaten
4. 2 cups of milk
5. 2 tablespoons of melted butter
6. 3/4 cup of sugar (I like to do a mix of white and brown sugar)
7. 1 tablespoon of vanilla extract
8. 3/4 tablespoon of ground cinnamon
9. 1/4 tablespoon of nutmeg

Instructions

1. Heat up the oven to 350 F, or 175  C.
2. Cut the crusts off the bread, and tear the bread into big chunks.
3. Lay the bread and crusts loosely in the pan. (See first photo; I also line my pan with parchment paper to minimize the amount of washing I have to do afterward)
4. Sprinkle raisins amidst the bread.
5. Combine all the remaining ingredients in a bowl, and mix well.
6. Pour the egg mixture onto the bread. 
7. Make sure that the bread soaks up the egg mixture, using a fork to press lightly on the bread. (see second photo)
8. Put the pudding into the oven, and let it bake for 45 minutes, or until the top springs back when lightly tapped. (see third photo)

Ready to eat! Enjoy! 

Placing bread and raisins loosely in a parchment-lined pan

After adding the egg mixture

Done and ready to eat!

Enjoy!

Nutella Mug Cake

This is a ridiculously simple recipe. It makes one mug of cake, almost instantly, and requires only a microwave. Tastes like a normal cake! It is really apt for people who like instant gratification, and makes me wonder why we even bake cakes.... Anyway, here goes!

Ingredients:

1. 4 tablespoons self-rising flour
2. 4 tablespoons sugar
3. 3 tablespoons cocoa powder
4. 3 tablespoons Nutella
5. 3 tablespoons milk
6. 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
7. 1 egg (Added last!)

Directions:

1. Add everything together in a mug, and whisk till smooth. 
2. Cook in a microwave at full power for 1.5 to 3 minutes  (cooking time depends on the power of your microwave). You can also have fun watching it rise and cook!
3. Ready to eat!! (I also lightly microwaved some marshmallows on the side to eat)

Like I wrote above, it is soft, and tastes just like a normally-baked cake (a bit more crumbly though), and pretty yummy for a late-night snack!

Bon appetit! 

Chocolate Chip Cookies

This is my favorite recipe for making dark chocolate chip cookies that are soft on the inside, yet crispy on the outside.

The whole recipe takes less than 1 hour from start to finish, and made ~60 mini bite-sized cookies:

Ingredients:

1. 2+1/4 cups all-purpose flour
2. 1/2 teaspoon salt
3. 1 teaspoon baking soda
4. 1/3 cup cocoa powder (*** Omit this if you don't want double chocolate cookies***) 
5. 3/4 cup granulated sugar
6. 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
7. 1 cup (= 2 sticks) butter, softened
8. 3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
9. 2 eggs
10. 2 cups semi-dark chocolate chips (I like using Guittard's or Ghiradelli)

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 F.
2. Stir together the flour, cocoa powder, salt and baking soda.
3. Beat together the butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar and vanilla extract until creamy.
4. Add eggs to the liquid mixture, and beat well.
5. Gradually add the flour mixture, and mix well. (The dough will become rather stiff)
6. Stir in the chocolate chips until evenly mixed.
7. Drop by rounded teaspoon-fuls onto an ungreased cookie sheet. (Or use your hand to pinch off and round off a small chunk)
8. Bake the cookies for 8-10 minutes, or until lightly browned, or the top has hardened and cracked.
9. Remove from oven and allow to cool.

Enjoy! The cookies will look like little round mochi balls.

when i'm bored on the flight....

i read the home and furnishings magazines, and found interesting recipes to try!
(just uploading for my own reference)

Madeleines

Fran came over for the weekend and we made madeleines!

Here's the recipe (really easy!):

Ingredients:

1. 2 eggs at room temperature
2. 1/4 cup butter, melted and cooled to room temperature 
3. 1/2 cup all-purpose flour 
4. 1/3 cup granulated sugar
5. 3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
6. A pinch of salt
7. 1 tablespoon lemon zest

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Butter and flour 12 (3 inch) madeleine molds; set aside.
2. In a small mixing bowl, beat eggs, vanilla and salt at high speed until light.
3. Beating constantly, gradually add sugar; and continue beating at high speed until mixture is thick and pale and ribbons form in bowl when beaters are lifted, 5 to 10 minutes.
4. Sift flour into egg mixture 1/3 at a time, gently folding after each addition.
5. Add lemon zest and pour melted butter around edge of batter. Quickly but gently fold butter into batter. Spoon batter into molds; it will mound slightly above tops.
6. Bake 14 to 17 minutes, or until cakes are golden and the tops spring back when gently pressed with your fingertip.

Baked apples recipe

New recipe to try! From here, a healthier alternative to apple pie

Salted Caramel mini Chocolate cupcakes

Was bored during this holiday season and didn't feel like doing any work, so I decided to bake!
Today's experiment is salted caramel mini chocolate cupcakes. These are mini chocolate cupcakes with a salted caramel filling, topped with dark chocolate salted caramel frosting.
The result turned out to be really yummy! =)

I adapted the recipe from here.

Using a mini muffin tray, I made 48 mini cupcakes with enough batter leftover for 4 madeleines. 
Alternatively this recipe yields 21 regular cupcakes.

Ingredients:

For the cupcakes:

1. 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2. 3/4 cup unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder (I used Ghiradelli cocoa powder)
3. 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
4. 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
5. 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
6. 3/4 teaspoon salt
7. 2 large eggs
8. 3/4 cup buttermilk (I made this by adding 1 tablespoon distilled white vinegar to 1 cup milk)
9. 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
10. 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
11. 3/4 cup warm water

For the salted caramel filling:

1. 2 1/2 cups sugar
2. 2/3 cup water
3. 3/4 cup heavy whipping cream
4. 2 1/2 teaspoons flaked sea salt, preferably Fleur de Sel

For the dark chocolate salted caramel frosting: (almost similar to before, with a caramel twist)

1. 1/8 cup  unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder 
2. 1/8 cup boiling water
3. 3/4 cups / 1.5 sticks unsalted butter at room temperature
4. 1/4 cup confectioners’/icing/powdered sugar, sifted
5. pinch of salt
6. 227 grams good-quality semi-sweet chocolate, melted and cooled (I used Guittard semi-sweet chocolate chips, found in Whole Foods)
7. A sufficient amount of the salted caramel, from above, to your liking

Instructions:

Making the cupcakes:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 F. 
2. Line mini muffin tray with paper liners. 
3. Mix together flour, cocoa, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. 
4. In another bowl, mix together eggs, buttermilk, oil, extract, and the water.
5. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients. Fold in and mix until smooth and combined. Do not over-mix, to avoid a dense cake.
6. Spoon the batter into liners about two-thirds full. 
7. Bake approximately 10-12 minutes, or until tester comes out clean.  (If you're making normal-sized cupcakes, baking time will be 13-15 minutes)
8. Transfer tins to wire racks and allow to cool for 10 minutes; turn cupcakes onto racks and let cool completely. (Cupcakes can be stored overnight at room temperature, or frozen up to 1 month in air tight containers.)
9. Make the salted caramel. While waiting for the caramel to form, use a paring knife to cut a cone-shaped piece (about half-way deep into the cupcake) from the center of each cupcake and throw away the narrower tip part. Keep the wider top part of the cone as a breadbowl-like cover over the caramel filling (see photos below for example).

Hollowed out cupcakes. The small pieces at the sides are the remaining top "breadbowl" covers

Sticking the breadbowl covers onto their respective cupcakes

Making the salted caramel filling:

1. Heat sugar with the water in a heavy saucepan over medium-high, stirring occasionally, until syrup is clear; clip a candy thermometer to side of pan and stop stirring.
2. Cook until syrup comes to a boil, washing down sides of pan with a wet pastry brush as needed. 
3. Boil, gently swirling pan occasionally, until mixture is caramelized and just reaches 360°F. 
4. Remove from heat and slowly pour in cream; stir with a wooden spoon until smooth. Be careful! Adding cream can cause the whole mixture to bubble!
5. Stir in sea salt.
6. Let cool for about 15 minutes; if caramel begins to harden reheat gently until pourable. 
7. Spoon 1 to 2 teaspoons warm caramel into each hollowed-out cupcake. The caramel will slightly sink into the cupcake – just add a bit more. Sprinkle a pinch of sea salt over filling.
8. Cover the filling with the breadbowl-like cake cover from before.
9. Use the leftover caramel for the frosting.

Caramel filling inside the cupcake

Making the dark chocolate salted caramel frosting:

1. Combine cocoa powder and the boiling water in a small bowl or glass measuring cup, and stir until it cocoa has dissolved. 
2. Beat the butter, the icing sugar, and salt on medium-high speed until it is pale and fluffy–about 5 minutes. 
3. Reduce mixer speed to low, and add melted chocolate (cooled! If not the butter will melt), beating until combined and scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. 
4. Beat in the cocoa mixture until well incorporated. 

Final step:

Pour the frosting into a piping bag (I used a ziploc bag and cut a small hole in the corner), and decorate the cupcakes!

Afterthoughts:

This recipe was really easy to follow, with a minimal number of steps. 

On an non-baking related note, life can be quite funny/coincidental sometimes. I was at Boudin Bakery in San Francisco on Saturday to try their clam chowder breadbowl and watched the staff make the breadbowls. That very observation helped me make my hollowed-out cupcakes today, all I had to do was recall what I saw over the weekend, and repeat on a smaller scale!

Also, as I was baking, the whole ritual of following instructions and measuring out precise quantities felt very similar to doing experiments in the lab. In fact, I was reminded of one of my first research internships, when the professor asked me if I cooked, since doing experiments was just like cooking. Very true. I wonder if my general ease with experiments has been aided by my intuition in the kitchen, or even vice versa. Either way, I'm glad to be good at both, if not I wouldn't know what to do with my hands half the time :)

Finally, a candid photo of me filling cupcakes!

Creamy Mushroom Soup

I'm a huge fan of mushrooms and mushroom soup, so on Boxing Day I tried making my own creamy mushroom soup! This recipe was adapted from one I got from an English college friend 6 years ago.

Ingredients:

1. 10 oz mushrooms, chopped (I used 5 lb portabello mushrooms, and 5lb white button mushrooms this time)
2. Half an onion, chopped
3. 3 cloves of garlic, chopped
4. 1 cup milk (I only have 2% milk at home, so I used that. Some recipes ask for whole milk or half-and-half)
5. 2 cups chicken stock (I used packaged soup in a box from Whole Foods)
6. 1/8 to 1/4 cup flour
7. 1 cup heavy cream
8. Salt, pepper, thyme
9. Olive oil

Instructions:

1. Heat up the olive oil in the pot. 
2. Stir-fry the onion and garlic until the onion is half cooked.
3. Add the mushrooms and stir-fry until the mushrooms are cooked.
4. Add enough flour to soak up the mushroom juices.
5. Pour in the milk and chicken stock. 
6. Heat up everything till simmering, but do not overboil.
7. Add the heavy cream, stir until simmering.
8. Add spices to taste.

Afterthoughts:

We liked it!

However, as much as I like eating portabello mushrooms, I think their taste is a bit too strong in cream soup. Next time I'll use white button and brown crimini mushrooms instead. Also, for a stronger garlicky flavor, add more garlic. 

The consistency of this soup was less thick than what you get from condensed canned soup. If you want a thicker soup I suppose you can have a higher heavy cream: milk ratio, use whole milk or add more flour. 

Enjoy and Merry Christmas!

Miso-marinated fish

I bought frozen fish from the supermarket today, so I tried experimenting with marinating fish with miso today!
I had leftover spring onions and an onion from last week, so I decided to add those in as well, to give some 'kicks' in flavor.
The fish I bought today was basa fish, apparently a type of catfish and a cheaper alternative from Vietnam to haddock or cod. Here's what I did
1. Rub a big lump of white miso all over the fish (I didn't take time to let it thaw out before starting the marination/)
2. Chop the spring onion into coarse chunks, and the onion into large but thin slices.
3. Mix the onions in between the fish fillets.
4. Let the fish marinate and partially thaw out.
5. Pan-fry the onions (till half-cooked) before adding the fish. Keep turning the fish to prevent it from sticking to the pan, and keep the onions above the fish so the meat comes into full contact with the heat.

Even though I didn't let the fish completely thaw before cooking it, it turned out fine because the water from the frozen fish melted and mixed with the miso, making a thick miso sauce that seeped into the meat and flavored it.

Simple but delicious! /please

Making dumplings (水餃)

I hand-made dumplings for the first time in 10 years today!

Here's roughly how I made them (total yield was 35 dumplings):

Ingredients:
1. 1/2 lb ground pork (see Note 1 below)
2. 7 chives, chopped into small sections
3. 7 water chestnuts, coarsely chopped
4. Liberal amounts of sesame oil, white pepper, soy sauce and tsao-hsing wine
5. Dumpling skin (I used the Hong Kong 水餃 one from Ranch99)

Note 1: I found out that using ground pork is not a good idea; the meat ends up being a lump and doesn't have the nice chewy texture. Next time I will buy a chunk of pork and chop it up into small pieces (oh I can already imagine the pain in my arms).
Also I didn't use enough chives.. the chive flavor didn't get through the meat (though it smelled really good before being cooked!). Next time I will use a higher chive-to-pork ratio.

Instructions:
1. Mix the pork with the chives, water chestnuts. Add enough seasoning to your liking for flavor.
2. Put a portion of the pork onto the center of a dumpling skin.
3. Wet the entire edge of the dumpling skin with water (this makes the dough stick to itself). 
4. Fold the skin into half, and make 6 pleats on one side of the skin, 3 on each side. Press to seal tight. (A video demonstration can be found here). 

To make boiled dumpling, simply place in water or your desired soup base. I used plain water this time and the dumplings tasted a little flour-y, so I will experiment with using either salt-added or chicken stock-added water.

To make gyoza, heat up some oil on a pan, and fry the dumplings until they are halfway to crispy. Then add some water to the pan and let the dumplings simmer as the water boils away. This will help the dumplings cook more quickly. Keep simmering in water as long as you think the meat filling is still raw. When the filling is cooked, proceed to pan-fry the gyoza until you achieve a nice golden-brown skin.

Condiments I used to pair with my dumplings were chili with soy sauce (you can use dark or light), and vinegar with chopped ginger.

Freshly-made dumplings

Gyoza with chili+soy sauce and vinegar+ginger

Boiled dumplings

Mozzarella on baguette with olive oil

This is one of my favorite home-made snacks! It's really simple to make too --
1. Buy mozzarella cheese (the large ball or bocconcini, not shredded), a baguette and some olive oil.
2. Cut the cheese and baguette into chunks.
3. Place the cheese on top of the baguette.
4. Place in an oven (or toaster oven) at 250F for a few minutes, until the baguette is slightly toasted, or the cheese has melted slightly.
5. Drizzle some (just a little, don't soak it!) olive oil on top of everything, and serve!

Cold brew coffee

We just found out about cold brew coffee from Whole Foods Market! The coffee is really concentrated, so you dilute it down with water or milk to yield a nice, smooth drink. Yum! I don't normally drink coffee because I'm very sensitive to caffeine, but this didn't make me jittery at all. Kept me awake though, on the car ride to Monterey a few weeks ago.
So we are trying to make our own cold brew using ground Philz coffee beans. Our first experiment will be with my boyfriend's favorite flavor, Tesora, a medium roast.

Here are the ingredients:
1. French press
2. Ground coffee (we will be trying coarsely ground beans this time, hopefully we don't have to use an additional coffee filter)
3. Water @ room temperature (3 parts water to 1 part coffee beans) --> we boiled our filtered water first to kill off any bacteria (I'm a microbiologist after all, careful as always)

Instructions:
1. Add water to ground coffee inside the French press. Stir as you add the water (This moistens the beans to ensure an even brew)
2. Cover the French press with the lid placed lightly on (do not press down!), or use clingwrap to cover the top of the pot.
3. Leave overnight, or for 12 hours, in the fridge.

To enjoy, add one part milk or water to one part coffee concentrate!

UPDATE: We left our beans in the water for 12 hours, and it was great! Despite grinding the beans coarsely, there were still some particles in the coffee from the French press. To yield the nice smooth texture, we still have to use a coffee filter! 

Salmon baked rice

Made salmon baked rice last night! I made the cream sauce from scratch for the first time too. Here's what I did (sorry we don't have any photos this time, since we were too hungry):

Rice:
Ingredients
1. Rice (I cooked 1 cup)
2. Half an onion, chopped
3. Chopped mushrooms
4. Vegetables (I used broccoli last night)
5. Some cheese (I used mozzarella last night)
6. A deep dish

Directions
1. Cook rice, and leave to warm.
2. Pan-fry some onions and mushrooms, before adding the vegetables. Cook until the onions and mushrooms are fragrant, and the vegetables are half-cooked.
3. Beat some eggs with black pepper and some salt, and mix evenly into the warm rice (see comment here).
4. Add the egg-coated rice to the pan, and pan-fry until the egg is mostly cooked. Add some cheese so that it's nice and stringy inside the rice.
5. Pour everything into the deep dish.

Salmon:
1. Rub over with some black pepper and cajun powder.
2. Pan-fry with some oil, until the fish is half-cooked through.

Cream sauce:
Ingredients
1. 1/2 stick of unsalted butter
2. 3 medium cloves of garlic
3. Half an onion, finely chopped
4. 1 teaspoons of salt
5. 0.5 teaspoon of black pepper
6. 1 cup heavy cream

Directions
1. Melt the butter at medium heat in a pot or pan.
2. Fry up the garlic and onions just before they are fragrant
3. Add 0.5 teaspoon salt and all the black pepper to the garlic and onions. Fry it up till fragrant.
4. Stir in the heavy cream and let boil. Add the remaining salt (this is to enhance the flavor of the sauce. Add at your own discretion).
5. The sauce will thicken as the water evaporates. Take the pot off the stove once you are satisfied with the sauce thickness.

Making the baked rice:
1. Pour half of the cream sauce onto your rice that is already inside the deep dish. Sprinkle some cheese on top of the rice and sauce.
2. Place the salmon in the middle of the dish. Add the remaining sauce and cheese, so that the whole dish is covered in cheesy goodness. I used 2 cups of cheese in total for this dinner (we really love cheese on baked rice)
3. Place everything in an oven set at 350F. It doesn't matter whether you preheat the oven or not, the cheese takes time to melt anyway.
4. Your meal is ready when the cheese is all melted and forms a brown (not black!) crust! You will also notice that the cream is bubbling from under all that cheese, so be careful when you're removing it from the oven.

Afterthought: Most of the cream sauce drained through and was absorbed by the rice while baking. If you like to see a layer of sauce on top of the rice when you eat, you can make a higher sauce:rice ratio, or make a thicker sauce.

Dinner at home (Fried rice)

After spending 4 weeks away, I really missed cooking in my own kitchen!
So on Sunday my boyfriend and I made soba, mushrooms sauteed in oyster sauce, pan-fried salmon, and asparagus! It was our first time cooking asparagus and it turned out pretty well. All we did was to mix together some olive oil, black pepper and garlic, drizzle that over a line of asparagus (tough ends chopped off), and placed it in the oven at 400F.


On Monday I made fried rice, broccoli and mushrooms in oyster sauce, and black bean chicken. 
For the chicken I used black bean sauce from Lee Kum Kee, and just steamed it. 


This is how I make fried rice:
1. wait for the rice to finish cooking in the rice cooker, leave to keep warm
2. stir-fry onions, garlic and carrots in the pan 
3. beat 1 or 2 eggs, add some white pepper and soy sauce
4. loosen the rice in the rice cooker
5. pour the raw egg over and rice and mix well. This will help to coat every grain of rice with egg, instead of having lumps of egg in your fried rice
6. Before the egg gets cooked by the hot rice, pour it all into your pan with the vegetables (add more oil if necessary), and fry everything up

Update to Scones

Last week I posted the recipe to making scones, and here are my latest photos!


Because I was preparing for a party, I made finger-food and bite-sized sizes, by rolling the dough slightly thinner (around 1/2 inch). I used my heart and small star cookie cutters to make the shapes. Bake time turned out to be the same -- around 12 minutes to fully cook the interior.
Prep time was less than 15 minutes to prepare the dough. I took more time beta-testing and making sure I got the bake time right..

The brown blobs are my feeble attempts at adding chocolate chips as an afterthought..

Linzer Sandwich Cookies

D and Z came over to make cookies yesterday and we had lots of fun!
These are sandwich cookies and you can make any shape you like using cookie cutters of two sizes.
Here's the recipe (makes around 12 sandwiches):


Ingredients:
16 tablespoons (or 226.8 grams, or 1 cup, or two sticks) of unsalted butter
2/3 cup confectioner's sugar
1 large egg yolk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon salt


Sandwich Filling:
Jam or Nutella or whatever filling you like!


Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 325 F. Cut baking/wax paper to fit your baking tray.
2. Beat butter and sugar till fluffy
3. Beat in egg yolk and vanilla, and then flour and salt
4. Shape dough into a big lump. Portion out enough to work with and fill a baking tray. Wrap in clingwrap and refrigerate the rest of the dough.
5. Roll out the dough on baking/wax paper to around 1/8" thickness (around 3-4 mm). Use cookie cutter to cut out shapes (we used heart, bear and star shapes!). To make cookie windows (so that your jam or Nutella peeps through), use a smaller cookie cutter to cut a hole in the middle of the bigger cookie. (see Note 1 below)
6. After preparing the shapes, simply lift the paper and place onto the baking tray. (see Note 2 below) Make sure that the dough is flat and not bent.
7. Bake for 10-12 minutes until the cookies turn golden brown.
8. Leave the cookies to cool, and then sandwich jam or Nutella between the bigger cookie and the window.
9. Ready to eat!


Note 1: It might be a good idea to make the windows in slightly thicker dough, since they are narrow and more fragile after baking.
Note 2: We tried using a Silpat sheet to shape our dough on, but the transfer process onto the baking tray was more difficult, since the dough broke its shape easily. Probably due to lack of skill though. 


Photos from our adventure:

Cutting cookie shapes 

Scones

Thinking of trying this sometime this coming week!


Dry Ingredients:
1 3/4 cups of all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon of sugar 
1 tablespoon of baking powder 
1/2 teaspoon of salt


Wet Ingredients:
1 cup heavy cream
Some melted butter


Directions:
1. Mix dry ingredients in a big bowl.
2. Add heavy cream, stirring until mixture becomes stiff enough to knead by hand into a smooth ball.  
3. Flatten the dough on a lightly floured surface to a thickness of about 2/3" and punch out scones.
4. Dip scones in 2-3 tablespoons of melted butter before arranging on a baking tray and cooking at 425F for 10-12  minutes or when lightly browned.


How to eat scones:
0. Invite a friend (or friends)
1. Lay out tea table with cute tea set and cups of English tea (Earl Grey and English Breakfast are my all-time favourites!)
2. Cut scone in half horizontally.
3. Spread the inside with dollops of clotted cream and jam. 
4. Enjoy! 


I'm still trying to find clotted cream in the supermarket though.... will post photos soon!