Iced gem biscuits

It's Friday and today I'm working from home. I normally work from my kitchen table so when the clock strikes the hour to indicate the start of the weekend it took all of one second to go from holding a computer mouse to holding a measuring cup! A friend of mine had recently received a batch of iced gems that her friend had kindly made and sent to her. She shared the recipe and give it good reviews. I've looked at recipes for this before but never got round to deciding which one to try and since this recipe was given and tested I thought I'd give it a go.

So what aWre iced gems? This one brings back memories from the past, these little biscuits not bigger than a 20 sen coin is topped with crunchy icing of the most attractive colours! I used to buy them in handfuls from the local shop where they were carefully weighed and then wrapped in newspaper. What a great treat it was to get home and unwrap the package to see how many different colours I got and if there were many of my favourite ones! As with eating the modern day M&Ms there is of course a sequence by which the various colours were eaten, need I say more?

Anyway, they did indeed turn out great, tasting exactly as I remembered them and best of all I managed to once again share a little of my childhood with my little girl. What a delight it was to see her create her own sequence of preference when eating the iced gems!

Baked and waiting to be iced

 

Took a bit of rummaging in the kitchen to find something that gave the size to cut the dough

 

 

Posted with Blogsy

Flooded icing cookies

It's been a struggle getting back into work mode since a great holiday back to Malaysia. So this weekend something to remind me of the whole point of going to work i.e. to pay for the things I enjoy, is much needed. A friend shared a video she came across on uTube ...what else is there than to let myself be suckered in and give it a go. So this is the result of trying out flooded icing and wet on wet techniques. It was fun and not too complicated but as always working with icing sugar, the cleanup is not so fun. And since I'm not a fan of super sweet biscuits, I'm going to need willing volunteers to eat them!

Made some pink ones too

 

 

Posted with Blogsy

Macarons madness

This is a back post, a while ago a friend of mine shared her macarons recipe, one which she took a class for which was very kind of her. This is the first time I attempted Italian meringue, this is the one using sugar syrup to make. The meringue was not too difficult to make, it was the piping that was challenged for me. Just using drawn circles, it was hard to get the piping going at a consistent rate in order to end up with circles that would pair up. I've made another batch since the first try, it turned out to be quite fun as you get to play with colours of the shells as well as dream up flavours for the filling, I've tried lemon cream, dark chocolate ganache and green tea buttercream..all yummy!

The green tea one

 

 

Italian meringue

 

 

Posted with Blogsy

Kuih Semperit

It's Raya or Ramadhan so there's a feeling of celebration. Unfortunately because I'm far from home, there's no open house to attend and no neighbours to come bearing raya cookies. For me, there's two cookies that really brings raya to mind, one is cornflake cookies and another is semperit. Of the two, semperit is my favourite so since no one is bringing raya cookies, I have to make them myself! And what a discovery, I never realised that this cookie is made from only corn flour which makes it gluten free and no eggs as well so those with a gluten allergy can enjoy this cookie without any worries! And yes I actually own a semperit cookie press, one which I bought years ago, just in case I have a craving for semperit which I did!

 

Pistachio, cranberry and white chocolate cookies

Another moreish cookie to add to my repertoire! American style cookies like this one always taste fabulous, unfortunately they are also not very healthy hence only to be eaten occasionally! So this batch is to go to the office to be shared with others else it will all end up in my tummy!

 

Biskut Telinga (Yee Chai Peng)

I made these a few weeks ago but did not have the chance to blog it till now. Now, what exactly are these? Some call it ear biscuits and some call it hats due to its shape, this is one of the many traditional biscuits I used to enjoy as a kid. No Oreos or Famous Amos then but just good old hand crafted biscuits. Until I made these, I never knew or even questioned what was in them, now I know and now I can keep these biscuits going on for a little longer before they dissappear in time. My hat off to these tasty little morsels!

 

Jam Tarts

Jam tarts come in many different shapes and sizes. These are ones which I like to refer to as Malay style jam tarts. Though it takes time to pipe out the pastry and then roll it, it's worth the effort as they are really morish and simply melt in your mouth. Needless to say, the jam has to be homemade pineapple jam, lightly flavoured with spices to give it that special taste. Delicious!!

Crunchy Oat Raisin Cookies

Moreish crunchy oat cookies studded with raisins. This is a quick recipe with no need for refrigeration which is usual when making cookies. However, this round was not quick for me as the mixer had broken down a while back and has yet to be replaced so I had to cream the butter and sugar the old fashioned way with a wooden spoon and lots of determination!

Tau Sar Pneah (Tambun Biscuits)

Among the many varieties of local chinese biscuits, tau sar pneah is my favourite. This crumbly and fragrant biscuit when eaten freshly made is just the best, be warned to have a plate handy to catch the crumbs! At home in Penang, I was lucky enough to live close by one of the biscuit factories so always have first dibs on the fresh batch!

My attempt to make this biscuit started with a long string of disasters. Unclear instructions in the recipe, tedious skin removing process from the green beans and finally being so tired I mixed up the 2 doughs in the wrong order with a final result of extemely crumbly biscuits. However, the taste was spot on which encouraged me to try again so after another 3 hours of picking the skin off another batch of soaked green beans the results below...perfect!

The painstakingly skinned beans and fresh out of the oven!