Classic Chocolate Drop Cookies

This was my first time baking chocolate drop cookies.

I watched Anna Olson's Youtube video recently and decided to have a go.

The first attempt went badly.  The cookies were rather hard because I used butter spread instead of pure butter.

The second attempt went well and the cookies tasted excellent.  This time, I used shortening for cookies and pastry.  I even remembered the recipe by heart this time.

For cup-to-gram measurement, the US-UK conversion comes from the link below:
http://www.goodtoknow.co.uk/recipes/531168/cups-to-grams-converter

Chocolate Drop Cookie recipe by Anna Olson

Wet ingredients

½ cup unsalted butter, at room temperature (115g)
½ cup packed light brown sugar (90g)
½ cup granulated sugar (90g)
1 large egg, at room temperature
1 tsp vanilla extract (10 ml)

Dry ingredients
1 ¼ cup all-purpose flour (185g)
1 tbsp cornstarch (15ml)
½ tsp baking soda (7.5g)
½ tsp salt (7.5g)

To be added last
1 ½ cup chocolate chips (225g)
1 cup lightly toasted, coarsely chopped pecans (optional) (150g) (I used roasted walnuts)

(Note:I am planning to make another batch of cookies using a reduced amount of sugar because I find 180g of sugar is a bit too much for my teeth)

Below are the photos of the cookies:

Photo 1: 1st attempt- cookie balls before baking

Photo 2: 1st attempt- freshly made cookies

Photo 3: 2nd attempt- cooled and ready to eat cookies

Photo 4: 2nd attempt - cookies ready for storage

Cinnamon Rolls - Part 4

Today, I made cinnamon rolls for the fourth time although the second attempt had never been mentioned before.

I managed to knead the dough on my glass worktop.  This time, I applied a lot of flour on the surface of the worktop to prevent the dough from sticking on it.  I was able to form a proper shaped dough like those on Youtube videos.  I was really excited but had to wait for 1.5 hours for the dough to rise. 

This time, I applied some cooking oil to the bowl before placing the dough in it.

Patience is a great virtue.  The dough doubled in size after 1.5 hours.  This time, the dough was easier to be removed from the bowl where it had sat due to the coating of the cooking oil in the bowl.  

I sprinkled some flour on the glass worktop and on the dough before it was taken out of the bowl.  I found that the rolling of the dough easier as the dough was not sticking to the glass worktop.  I was able to roll the dough four times this time.  The shape of a cinnamon roll had formed successfully.

I placed the cinnamon rolls in a tray and left it in the cold oven to rise for another 1.5 hours.

After 1.5 hours, I simply insert the tray into the preheated oven at 180'C and baked for 15 minutes.

Voila!  Enjoy the photos!

Photo 1: dough is ready for rising

Photo 2: waiting to rise

Photo 3: cinnamon sugar filling

Photo 4: waiting for the second rise

Photo 5: ready for baking

Photo 6: close up of ready cinnamon rolls

Photo 7: freshly baked cinnamon rolls

Baking disaster: Classic streusel blueberry muffins

I completely messed up the streusel and the oven temperature:  adding too much flour to the streusel; not massaging the streusel with two hands; and baking the muffins at 280'C instead of 190'C for 35 minutes.

(I baked the muffins for 10 minutes before smelling the burnt streusel from the oven!  The kitchen was covered with smoke!!!)

The result was muffins covered with burnt streusel.  The saving grace out of this trial was the texture of the muffins.  They were soft and fluffy due to the sieving process and milk.  Another one was the tulip wraps, that were correctly home made by me!

I will follow the instruction for the muffins in the future.  Enjoy the photos below.

Photo 1:  Classic streusel blueberry muffins

Photo 2:  blueberries inside the muffins

Photo 3:  half eaten by me!

Recipe by Anna Olson

Streusel Topping Ingredients:

⅓ cup (50 g) all-purpose flour
¼ cup (50 g) packed light brown sugar
¼ tsp (0.75 g) baking powder
¼ tsp (0.75 g) ground cinnamon
3 Tbsp (45 g) cool unsalted butter, cut into pieces

Muffins Ingredients:
½ cup (115 g) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup (200 g) granulated sugar
1 tsp (5 mL) finely grated lemon zest
2 large eggs, at room temperature
2 ½ cups (375 g) all-purpose flour
2 tsp (6 g) baking powder
¼ tsp (1.5 g) salt
¼ tsp (0.75 g) ground nutmeg
½ cup (125 mL) 1% or 2% milk
2 cups (250 g) fresh blueberries

Pad kwetio of Busaba Eathai

Yummy!

I had the pad kwetio (£9.65) for lunch today as a treat for myself.  This is my favourite dish from the restaurant. It is hot & spicy and depending on the chefs, it can be delicious or plain.

I tend to take this dish away and have it at home.  I would heat up the noodles for five minutes in the microwave before consuming it.  It seems to be nicer every time I do it.

Try this dish if you have the opportunity.  Of course, my advice is you have to be able to handle Thai chili.  Otherwise, you won't enjoy this dish.

(In Penang, Malaysia, there is a similar dish called Penang Char Koay Teow.  It's basically wok stir fried flat rice noodles (hor fun or koay teow) with light soy sauce, dark soy sauce, fish sauce, eggs, cockles, prawns, pork fat (bak yu puhk), chives and beansprouts.  Awesome!!!)

Pad kwetio at home..