Tantangan KBB # 30 Rosemary-Cheese Spritz Cookies

After along awaiting, finally email notification arrived. This time challenge is to bake  cookies using a cookie press. I don't have cookie press at all. Tried to get a bargain through trademe but no luck. Luckily, One day I was at Westfield Riccarton Mall and went pass STEVENS and guess what?? I've got the bargain. It's 50% off from the original price --- woot woot ...

Back to Challenge # 30 - Rosemary-Cheese Spritz Cookies, after I read the recipe I knew it's going to be a challenging time in the kitchen, since I never use the cookie press. But hey... there's always first time for everything rite

Here's The recipe :

Rosemary-Cheese
Spritz Cookies From Food Network Kitchens

(for this challenge I only use half of the recipe)

Ingredients

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter

1 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest

1 large egg yolk

6 tablespoons heavy cream

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

3/4 cup finely grated Pecorino cheese === I used Edam cheese

1/2 cup finely grated Parmesan cheese

1 tablespoon sugar

2 teaspoons minced fresh rosemary leaves

1 teaspoons fine salt

Pinch freshly ground nutmeg

Special Equipment: Cookie Press

Directions

Bring all ingredients to room temperature.

Beat the butter and lemon zest with an electric mixer at medium speed until smooth, about 30 seconds. Slowly beat in the egg yolk and cream.

Whisk the flour, pecorino, 1/4 cup of the Parmesan, sugar, rosemary, salt, and nutmeg together in a bowl. Gradually add the flour mixture into the butter mixture while mixing slowly. Scrape down the sides of the bowl, then beat on medium speed to make a slightly sticky dough.

Fill the cookie press with the dough. Assemble the press with the desired disk shape (see cook's note), and press cookies onto ungreased baking sheets. Leave about one inch between cookies. Sprinkle with the remaining 1/4 cup Parmesan and refrigerate cookies for 20 minutes.

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.

Bake cookies, rotating pan halfway through, until golden, the cheese browns a bit, and the cookies smell nutty, about 20 to 25 minutes. Briefly cool the cookies on the baking sheets, then transfer to racks to cool. Serve or store in a tightly sealed container for up to 1 month.

Cook's Notes: These freeze beautifully. Press the cookies out into desired
shapes on cookie sheets and freeze. Transfer frozen cookies to a plastic bag, seal, and keep frozen for up to 1 month. When ready to bake, lay out frozen cookies on cookie trays and bake from frozen for 25 minutes.

Some disk shapes work better than others. Since this is savory cookie, we liked the cutters that result in a cracker shape cookie.

-----

The ingredients


















First thing to do is mix all the ingredients based on the recipe. It's not too difficult to do.

Beat butter & lemon zest. Then add egg yolk and cream.

Whisk the flour, edam cheese, permesan, sugar, rosemary, salt and nutmeg together in a bowl. Gradually add the flour mixture into the butter mixture while mixing slowly. Scrape down the sides of the bowl, then beat on medium speed to make a slightly sticky dough.























The challenging time begin, I fill the cookie press with the dough. I choose snowflakes disc for this cookie

Feel confidence at first, but then dough not sticky enough to stay on baking tray. It doesn't shape the snowflakes at all

I tried to add more flour into the dough but it doesn't work. Maybe because it was my first time using the cookie press so I wasn't familiar with it.

And the show must go on, I keep continue trying to make a cookie but only 2 survived. Thinking to re-bake again at some stage but then, time flies and now nearly reach the deadline.

Here's the cookies for now, but will try again another time and keep you posted

Cheesy Choux Pastry

Cheesy Choux Pastry

Original recipe source from here

The recipe is in Bahasa Indonesia, here's the recipe in english:

The ingredients :

100 gr butter
225 cc water
1/4 sdt salt
3 Eggs
125 gr all purpose flour
1 sdt baking powder
25 gr Permesan Cheese
25 gr Cheddar cheese,grated

Directions :

- Heat oven on 180 degree celcius. Prepare the baking tray
- Put butter & water in a saucepan until boiling & butter is melted. Pour flour, stir until mixed, put aside
- Pour permesan cheese & baking powder into flour-butter-water mixture, stir let it cool.
- Add egg one at a time. Stir until mixed
- Put the mixture into piping bag use star tip & make small round shape. sprinkle cheddar cheese over
- Bake the pastry until turn golden brown

Sus Kering Keju

Nemu resep Sus Kering Keju di sini

Dan hari ini nyoba bikin dan hasilnya agak sedikit bantat. entah kenapa ya? ada yang bisa bantu cari tahu kenapa agak bantat?

Tapi soal rasa sih kejunya udah berasa banget.

Bumbu Pengganti

Dapat info ini dari teh Lina..

Hatur nuhun teh

Kehabisan bumbu spekkoek/lapis legit/speculaas? jangan khawatir ... bikin aja sendiri, berikut ini resepnya :

4 tsp cinnamon/kayu manis
1 tsp cloves/cengkeh
1 tsp nutmeg/pala
1/4 tsp white pepper/merica putih
1/2 tsp ginger/jahe
1/4 tsp cardamom/kapulaga
1/4 tsp mace/bunga pala

Kalo mau lebih otentik lagi tambahkan ini :
1 tsp coriander/ketumbar
1 tsp star anise/bunga lawang/bunga pekak

Jadi siap2 deh baking yang pake spekkoek

Tantangan KBB # 29 Eccless Cake

My 3rd challenges for this year. Eccless cake.
What is Eccless cake?. According to wikipedia :

Eccles cakes are named after the English town of Eccles. It is not known who invented the recipe, but James Birch is credited with being the first person to sell Eccles cakes on a commercial basis, which he sold from his shop at the corner of Vicarage Road and St Mary’s Road (now known as Church Street) in the town centre, in 1793.^[1]

Nicknames for the Eccles cake include Squashed Fly Cake, Fly Cake, Fly Pie or even a Fly's Graveyard, owing to the appearance of the currants that it contains. Eccles cakes do not currently have Protected Geographical Status, so may be manufactured anywhere and still labelled as "Eccles" cakes.^[2]

I never try eccless cake before and judging from the recipe, it's going to be a long process to bake yet fun. Let's hoping that the pastry will light & eccless cake taste delicious

Eccless Cake

The recipe as below  (Source From Here )

Eccles Cakes
Makes about 50 smallish cakes

Filling
6 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 cinnamon stick
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
Peel from 2 lemons
Peel from 2 oranges
2 cups dried currants
1/2 cup golden raisins
2 tablespoons brandy
1/4 cup fresh-squeezed lemon juice

Melt the butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. Add the spices and peel and fry until they are fragrant in the butter. Add the fruit, brandy, and juice. Simmer for ten or fifteen minutes, stirring occasionally. Let cool, then put in the fridge overnight to let the flavors really meld.

Puff Pastry
1 pound (4 sticks) unsalted butter
4 cups AP flour
1 teaspoon salt
Between 1 and 1/2 cups ice water

Take three of the sticks of butter and slice them in half lengthwise and then again widthwise. Arrange them into a rectangle on a large piece of wax paper. Put another piece of wax paper on top and roll them the butter out into a 9x12-inch rectangle between the sheets of waxed paper. Chill for at least four hours.

Put the four cups of flour into a food processor. Cut up the remaining stick of butter and add it, bit by bit, to the flour and pulse into dusty crumbs. Dump the butter-flour crumbs into a big bowl and add ice water gradually, stirring, just until the dough comes together. Knead for a couple minutes until smooth. Wrap and refrigerate four hours or overnight.

Roll the dough out into a 1/4-inch-thick rectangle and place the butter rectangle on top. Fold the corners of the dough over the butter and roll out to its previous size. Fold the sides of the dough up to the middle, like folding a piece of paper into thirds, then fold it again in half — like closing a book. You're working the butter into the dough in finer and finer layers; the butter if it stays cold will puff the pastry up in delicious and spectacular ways when you're finished. Wrap this parcel well and put back in the fridge for at least an hour or two.

Take the dough out and roll the parcel out into the rectangle again, then repeat the folding process. This is working the butter into the pastry in finer and finer layers. Continue this process - rolling out, then folding. These are called turns. Do at least four turns - six or more is even better. It's very simple: the longer you let the dough rest and chill between turns, and the more turns you do, the lighter and flakier your pastry will be. I did five turns over the course of about 8 hours, and mine was fine - but if I was doing some other kind of pastry I would definitely let it sit overnight at least once.

Assembly
1 egg, beaten
Coarse sugar

Heat the oven to 375°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Take a third of the the puff pastry dough from the fridge. It should be very cold and firm, but not hard. Roll it out to a thickness of about 1/8-inch.

Cut small circles - I used a biscuit cutter that gave me four-inch circles. You could do larger, but I wanted a lot of individual pastries. Put a small dollop of filling (about 1 teaspoon) in the center of each dough circle.

Fold in half, like a potsticker dumpling, and seal the edges with your fingers. Now bring the two pointy edges up and fold them in the center, on the curved seam. Flatten out the little pouch with your fingers, and roll it into a small circle - just thin enough that the filling shows through the dough a little. Try not to let it leak out, though. Make two or three shallow slashes in the top of the finished round cake.

Brush with beaten egg, and sprinkle with sugar. (Note: I think that my pastry dough was pretty warm by this point, from all the handling and rolling. I didn't try this at the time, but in the future I think I would put the finished, unbaked pans of cakes in the fridge or freezer to let them chill again - maybe for an hour. This would make a higher, lighter pastry.)

Bake for about 20 minutes, or until golden brown and puffy. Try not to eat one immediately - the hot raisin filling will scorch your mouth - believe me, I know. These are amazingly good even a few days later.

*************************

I only use half of the recipe for this challenge

Here's step by step in baking Eccless Cake

 

First, I have to make butter block. It's not difficult to do. Basically, what you need to do is to roll out the butter and chill it in the fridge for 4 hours (since I only use half of the recipe i only chill it for 2 hours)

Next, preparing the flour for the dough. Put the flour into food processor &
add butter bit by bit to the flour and pulse into dusty crumb. Once its ready, dump the flour-butter crumbs into a bowl add water gradually until it comes together. Knead the dough for few minutes until smooth. Wrap & refrigerate  for 2 hours.
(my son insisted to hold the dough for me)






After 2 hours, get the butter block & dough out from the fridge. Roll out the dough and place butter block on the top. Fold the corners of the dough over the butter, roll out to its previous size. Fold the sides of the dough to the middle then fold it again in half. You have to make sure that the butter & dough are mixed together. Wrap it and refrigerate for 2 hours.

                                                                                                                            While waiting puff pastry ready, it's a perfect time to make the filling. Melt the butter & spice in saucepan until its fragrant. Pour the currants and juice,stirring occasionally . Let cool and then leave it in the fridge for 2 hours.



Assembly time - Finally it's time to assembly the dough & filling to make Eccless Cake. Get the dough & filling out from the fridge. Roll out the dough & cut it to round shape. Place the filling in the middle. brush the edge with water to sealed it. Fold in half then bring the two pointy edges up and fold them in the center, on the curved seam. Flatten out the little pouch with your finger and roll it to round shape. Make three slashes on the top of the finished round cake. Brushed the cake with beaten eggs & sprinkle with sugar. Bake for 20 minutes or until its golden brown.

And after hours spent in the kitchen, I proudly present Eccless Cake


"Puff pastry and currants taste beautiful. This challenge boost my confidence. The puff pastry so light I couldn't believe I made it from scratch 

Tantangan KBB # 28 Torta pasqualina

My last challenge before I officially become a KBB member. Nervous yet excited hopefully I will pass this challenge.

Torta Pasqualina, to be honest, I never heard about it. I only know Pizza & Godfather Movie when it comes to Italy and now, I've learned a new thing, Torta Pasqualina!.

You-tubing how to make it, most of the videos in italian. I Don't understand the language, but at least I know how to do it and hopefully, I got it right.

I used the recipe provided by the Host. And for this challenge, I only used half of the recipe since I'm not really confidence in making pastry. -- My weakness I'm not good in kneading

Here's the recipe for Torta Pasqualina.

Torta Pasqualina
> > Source: Old Time Cooking Recipes
> >
> > Ingredients:
> > DOUGH:
> > 600 g (1 lb 5 oz) white flour
> > 6 Tbs olive oil
> > a pinch of salt
> >
> > FILLING:
> > 1 kg (2 lb) Swiss chard (silver beet) or spinach
> > 400 g (0.9 lb) cottage cheese/ricotta cheese
> > 100 g (3.5 oz) parmesan
> > 10 eggs
> > 2 teaspoons marjoram, chopped
> > 2 teaspoons parsley, chopped
> > garlic, minced (optional)
> > olive oil
> > salt, pepper
> >
> > Preparation:
> > 1. DOUGH:
> > -Combine flour, oil, a pinch of salt and enough cold water to make a
> > medium soft dough.
> > -Knead well for 10 minutes or until the dough becomes elastic.
> > -Divide the dough into 14 balls.
> > -Cover with cloth and let stand for about 1 hour.
> >
> > 2. FILLING:
> > -Clean, wash and dry the Swiss chard.
> > -Place in a saucepan with little boiling water and cook at high heat
> > until wilted.
> > -Cool, then squeeze out excess liquid and chop finely.
> > -Add 50 g (1.7 oz) parmesan cheese, marjoram, parsley, garlic and 2 eggs. Season with salt and pepper.
> >
> > 3. Oil a round shallow oven dish, 9 inches (22 cm) in diameter.
> >
> > 4. Flatten each piece of dough, one at a time, making each a very thin disk, larger than the baking pan you are going to use.
> >
> > 5. Lay the pastry on the oven dish, allowing it to flow over the
> > edges. Oil it lightly.
> >
> > 6. Place another disk over it and repeat until you have used 7 disks.
> >
> > 7. Spread the Swiss chard stuffing over the dough, and then spread the cottage cheese over the greens level with a knife.
> >
> > 8. Make 8 small cavities. Pour a raw egg into each cavity and sprinkle each with salt, pepper and remaining parmesan cheese.
> >
> > 9. Cover the whole lot with the same number of pastry sheets, each brushed with oil.
> >
> > 10. Pinch the borders and trim the excess dough, prick the top of the pie in a few places and then brush with oil.
> >
> > 11. Bake for 1 hour in 190 C (375 F) oven. Allow to rest before
> > removing from the cake tin

****
Below the ingredients for Torta Pasqualina



















The Dough Making

While kneading the dough, I was worried that the pastry might turn wrong, since I'm not really good in kneading. But, this is the reason why I join KBB - to improve my skill in Baking. If the pastry turns wrong then I need to do it all over again - more practice!

















The Filling Making

It's not too difficult to make the filling. Basically you just boiled the silverbeet in high heat for few minutes until wilted, cool it down, squeeze the excess liquid, chopped then put the rest ingredients and mix it.



















After waiting dough ready for 30minutes, then it's about time to play with it. I took one ball then flatten the dough as thinner as I can. And voila... Everything run perfectly **yay**...
Lay the pastry on the oven dish, until 3 disks used.


















After 3 disks ready on the oven dish, I spread the filling evenly. Then covered with cottage cheese. Next, I made 2 holes then pour a raw egg in each hole and seasoned with salt and pepper and sprinkle with remaining parmesan cheese.

















After the filling ready, then I do the same thing again with the dough. Flattened the dough, lay on the oven dish until 3 disks remaining used. Once it's done, then fold the excess pastry, I use fork to make it look nice.


















Bake for 30 minutes, and once it ready, let it rest before removing from the oven dish.

And now, here's the Torta Pasqualina

































First time, ate Torta Pasqualina and I have to say that the taste is Delizioso !!


And I passed the challenge !!

Tantangan KBB # 27 FORTUNE COOKIE

As a member to be, I need to passed two challenges before I officially become a member of KBB. What is KBB? KBB short from Klub Berani Baking. You may see their blog here

I nearly missed out the KBB#27 Challenge. It's because I missed to subscribe the mailing list. Luckily enough around mid January, I contacted mbak Arfi Binsted to found out what the challenge is, then she forward me the email... Pppffhhh... such a relieve otherwise I will failed before I even try it.

Here's the KBB#27 Challenge : Fortune Cookie

Fortune cookie according to wikipedia : Is a crisp cookie usually made from flour, sugar, vanilla, and oil with a "fortune" wrapped inside. A "fortune" is a piece of paper with words of wisdom or a vague prophecy. The message inside may also include a Chinese phrase with translation or a list of lucky numbers used by some as lottery numbers, some of which have become actual winner numbers.<sup>[1]

After I read the invite, I'm ready to bake one. So here's my story :

FORTUNE COOKIE</sup>

Source: http://chinesefood.about.com

Fortune cookies can be tricky to make - it's important to make sure that the cookie batter is spread out evenly on the baking sheet. Instead of using the back of a wooden spoon to spread the batter, it's better to gently tilt the baking sheet back and forth as needed. Wearing cotton gloves makes it easier to handle and shape the hot cookies. This fortune cookie recipe makes about 10 cookies.

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 15 minutes

Total Time: 30 minutes

Ingredients:

2 large egg whites

1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon pure almond extract

3 tablespoons vegetable oil

8 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1 1/2 teaspoons cornstarch

1/4 teaspoon salt

8 tablespoons granulated sugar

3 teaspoons water

Preparation:

1. Write fortunes on pieces of paper that are 3 1/2 inches long and 1/2 inch wide. Preheat oven to 300 degrees Fahrenheit. Grease 2 9-X-13 inch baking sheets.

2. In a medium bowl, lightly beat the egg white, vanilla extract, almond extract and vegetable oil until frothy, but not stiff.

3. Sift the flour, cornstarch, salt and sugar into a separate bowl. Stir the water into the flour mixture.

4. Add the flour into the egg white mixture and stir until you have a smooth batter. The batter should not be runny, but should drop easily off a wooden spoon.

Note: if you want to dye the fortune cookies, add the food coloring at this point, stirring it into the batter. For example, I used 1/2 teaspoon green food coloring to make green fortune cookies.

5. Place level tablespoons of batter onto the cookie sheet, spacing them at least 3 inches apart. Gently tilt the baking sheet back and forth and from side to side so that each tablespoon of batter forms into a circle 4 inches in diameter.

6. Bake until the outer 1/2-inch of each cookie turns golden brown and they are easy to remove from the baking sheet with a spatula (14 - 15 minutes).

7. Working quickly, remove the cookie with a spatula and flip it over in your hand. Place a fortune in the middle of a cookie. To form the fortune cookie shape, fold the cookie in half, then gently pull the edges downward over the rim of a glass, wooden spoon or the edge of a muffin tin. Place the finished cookie in the cup of the muffin tin so that it keeps its shape. Continue with the rest of the cookies

^***
These are the ingredients including the message that I will put inside the cookie.


























And to shape the cookie I used Cup & muffin pan

                                                     








                            







Next stage is making a batter. I followed every steps as per recipe above. Taaadaaa... now the batter is ready.




















The fun part while baking this fortune cookie is once the cookie ready - you can tell by the golden color around the edge, then you have to remove it straight away from the pan and put the message inside & form the cookie buy pull it downward over the rim of a cup. I forgot to buy a disposable glove, but the making must go on, I have to dance all the way while I touch the cookie, - well that's my reaction when I touch it because the cookie is way too hot for my bare hand
But all the suffer is worth. I finally finish my baking.




















And now I proudly present

My First Fortune Cookie
















And last but not least... I passed this challenge... Woot...woot