Thanksgiving : A Six Pound Souvenir

 Gingerbread folk for my friend Nolan's sixth annual Rock Band party.

My visit back home was fulfilling, with emphasis on the filling part. The spread at Thanksgiving alone would have been enough to make me cringe at returning to Singapore, where it's bikini season all year long.

 Sifting the dry ingredients.

I made velvet cake for the three family birthdays in November, coffee cake, Alton Brown's gingerbread folk, and Cheryl Smith's onion tart.  The cakes are from previous entries, the onion tart is best saved for another day. Right now is the time for gingerbread.

 Shortening and butter making friends.

Fats and sugars beaten to a grainy, fluffy finish.

I made the gingerbread folk cookies not only for Thanksgiving, but for my oldest friend's sixth annual Rock Band party as well. Decorating them is tons of fun, until your hand starts cramping from squeezing all that royal icing out of a pastry bag or cornet.

 Folding in the dry ingredients until just combined.

Gingerbread Folk Cookies
Adapted from Alton Brown's Gingerbread Cookies 101 at The Food Network
Yields a whole mess of cookies, in the 100+ range if using a 1" cookie cutter

3 1/4 C (325 g)  all-purpose flour

1 tsp  baking powder
1 1/2 tsp  cinnamon
1 1/2 tsp  ginger
1 tsp  all spice
1 tsp  cloves
1/2 tsp  salt
1/4 tsp  black pepper

1 stick (115 g)  butter
1/4 C (55 g)  shortening
1/2 C packed (110 g)

     brown sugar

2/3 C (230 g)  molasses
1  egg


All ingredients are at room temperature unless otherwise stated.
Top right: Floured dough on parchment paper.
Bottom right: Rolled and cut dough.

1. Combine all the dry ingredients and sift or whisk to combine and set aside.
2. In a separate bowl, cream together the shortening and butter until homogeneous.
3. Add the sugar to the fats and beat fluffy.
4. Add the molasses and egg and beat until combined.
5. Fold in the dry ingredients.
6. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap or place it in a gallon size seal-able bag and press flat to remove all air.
7. Refrigerate the dough over night.
8. The following day: Preheat the oven to 350F (177C). Work with half the dough at a time. Lay out parchment paper and lightly flour the surface, place the dough on top, flour again, and top with another layer of parchment.
9. Roll out the dough between the parchment to 1/8 to 1/4 inch (about 3 to 6 mm) thick, re-flouring to keep the dough from sticking to the parchment at necessary.
10. Dip your cutter in flour, tap it to remove the excess, and cut into the dough. Wiggle the cutter slightly before removing it from the rolled out dough to make cut-out removal extra easy.
11. Repeat step 10 until the rolled dough is completely cut, place cut-outs on a greased cookie sheet (it's okay to place them as close as 1/4 inch as they don't expand much).
12. Regroup the remaining dough and repeat steps 8 through 11.
13. Bake cookies 6-10 minutes, depending on the size, thickness, and desired firmness when cool.
14. Cool completely before decorating with royal icing.
15. Enjoy!

 Gingerbread folk ready to be baked.

Gingerbread Folk Reflections

I baked my approximately 3/8" thick, 1" cut-outs for 6 minutes for a medium-firm cookie, and received praise for the texture, flavor, and cuteness of my veritable army of gingerbread folk.

Mini rockers ready to be consumed by the masses.

I tried out two recipes for the royal icing: a traditional icing with egg whites and an icing without raw egg (I feared I might somehow make the three-years and under crowd ill at Thanksgiving, see JazzyCake's entry). I preferred the traditional royal icing; I found that I could get it to a much nicer consistency with less work and the end color was a much brighter white than the egg-less version. I did have issues with peaks once I lifted my piping bag away from the cookies, but that's easily remedied by beating the whites to a less firm peak in the future.

Guitars made of royal icing take practice. For cleaner looking gingerbread folk, be sure to brush away any excess flour before baking.

Gingerbread folk are fun to decorate, but I think I'll enlist the help of the wee little boys that ate the majority of the cookies at Thanksgiving for the next round. Another thing I'd like to keep in mind for next year is eating reasonably when I'm home to avoid packing a six pound souvenir from my short trip back to the States.

The only picture I got of the gingerbread folk made for Thanksgiving was at the end of the night. There were few survivors. Though a little more buttoned-up than the Rock Band crowd, these gingerbread folk held their own during the holiday.

Cowboy Cookies

Cowboy cookies, stacked half a dozen high.

During my university days back in the U.S., my friends and I would occasionally wander down to the Rosewood Cafe for a bit of warmed brie with fruit and a sliced baguette. One day, we came down and for some reason they couldn't fit us in, so we turned around with a sigh and began to walk toward the door when, "Would you like a cookie?" We instantly brightened. Is that even really a question? Rhetorical or not, we said yes with warmed hearts and child-like glee.

"Alright, let's see... Cowboy or cowgirl cookies?"

The dough, just before mixing in the coconut, pecans, and chocolate chips.

Not really knowing what the person behind the counter was getting at, we asked, "What's the difference?" Then it was pointed out that in the middle of these oatmeal chocolate chip cookies sat a pecan. Nuts, apparently, make a cowboy cookie. Ahem. We chose cowboy over cowgirl and merrily nibbled away at the cookies, forgetting almost entirely about the brie (and about gender issues mixed into the oven, but that's a different story).

Tablespoon sized drops of cookie dough.

That was many moons ago and surprisingly, I hadn't made cowboy cookies until a friend's birthday theme (cowboys v. indians, happy 30th!) inspired me to bake a batch. I decided to go with the cowboy cookie recipe at foodnetwork.com.

Cowboy Cookies
Adapted from foodnetwork.com


Yields about 3 dozen cookies, from what I can remember, heh

1/2 C  butter flavored shortening
1/2 C (96g)  sugar
1/2 C (101g)  brown sugar
1  egg
1/2 tsp  vanilla
1 C (99g)  all purpose flour
1/2 tsp  baking soda
1/4 tsp  salt
1/4 tsp  baking powder
1 C (80g)  oats
1/2 C (60g)  pecans
3 oz. (85g)  chocolate chips
1/4 C (15-20g)  dessicated unsweetened coconut

1. Preheat the oven to 350F (177C).
2. In a large bowl, cream together the shortening and sugars.
3. Add the egg and vanilla and beat well.
4. Stir in the flour, baking soda, salt, and baking powder until just mixed.
5. Stir in the oats, pecans, chocolate chips, and coconut until just mixed.
6. Scoop the dough using a tablespoon and drop onto silicone mat lined baking sheets, approximately two inches apart, and flatten slightly.
7. Bake 12-15 minutes (14 for me) until cookies start to brown.
8. Remove to cooling racks.
9. Enjoy!

Cowboy Cookie Reflections

You don't really taste the coconut, so for people looking for more coconut flavor, increase the amount to your liking, perhaps use sweetened coconut and reduce the sugar in the recipe. I think it mostly adds to the texture and structure of the cookie at the amount given.

It's best to slightly flatten the dough balls before cooking because they spread slightly; given all the chunky yummy things you mixed in, not flattening them a little leads to a less even distribution of the chocolate and nuts, as well as less round cookies. They're nothing wrong with less than circular cookies (in my kitchen, they're the ones that get eaten first), they taste just lovely, but if you're a little neurotic and compulsively eat the less than photo quality ones fresh out of the oven, then a little flattening couldn't hurt.

I used a mix of dark chocolate and semisweet chocolate chips, mostly because I was nearly out of both. Given the choice between using just one, I would say semisweet would work better in this cookie; I like my cookies reasonably sweet and all dark chocolate might not be sweet enough.

These make a nicely crispy cookie and are excellent with a tall glass of milk.

Molasses Cookies: Sugar or Chocolate on Top?

Love cookies fresh from the oven but don't have time to cook dinner and bake? Try prepping the dough beforehand and then throw it in the fridge. Toss them in the oven while you're having dinner and voilà! Soft, chewy, warm cookies ready for dessert nibbles when you are.

I felt like making something rich with spices and that was relatively quick to prep, something that would satiate my sweet tooth without being overpowering or too heavy. My first thought was something with cinnamon, but that wasn't quite right. Then I remembered I still had a full bottle of molasses from making croissants when it hit me: molasses cookies. Oh, molasses cookies. Soft and chewy and full of flavor, they were the perfect fit.

I decided to work with this molasses cookies recipe from allrecipes.com. I cut it in half, but it still gave me about 25 cookies (the original recipe yields 30).

Molasses Cookies

 Originally submitted by Brenda Hall to allrecipes.com and loosely interpreted by me

Yields approximately 25 cookies

 6 T  butter, melted

1/2 C  white sugar

1  egg

2 T  molasses

1 C all-purpose flour

1 tsp  baking soda

1/4 tsp  salt

1/2 tsp  cinnamon

1/4 tsp  mixed spice (cassia, coriander, caraway, nutmeg, cloves, and ginger)

1/4 tsp  ginger

1/4 C  white sugar (for rolling)

1/4 C  dark chocolate, chopped to about chocolate chip size

 1 inch balls of molasses cookie dough rolled in chopped dark chocolate (foreground and right) and white sugar (background and left).

1.  In a medium bowl, mix butter, sugar, and egg well.
2. Mix in molasses and set aside.
3. In a separate medium bowl, mix flour, baking soda, and spices.
4. Add dry ingredients to wet mix and stir until combined.
5. Cover and refrigerate 1+ hours.
6. Remove from fridge and preheat the oven to 375 F (190 C).
7. Roll chilled dough into 1 inch balls, dip in sugar or chocolate, and place 2 inches apart (plain side down) on a cookie sheet.
8. Bake 8-10 minutes or until the sugar has begun to melt together and crack.
9. Cool on racks.
10. Enjoy!

Molasses Cookies Reflections

These weren't as thick as I had hoped. I like a tall and chewy molasses cookie. Cookies with shortening tend to hold their shape a bit better but I do enjoy the way butter tastes. I think using half butter and half shortening would yield a thicker yet still flavorful cookie in the future. The Baking and Baking Science website also suggests that using a finer grain of sugar would stabilize the cookies further. I'd use caution with casually replacing write crystallized sugar with powdered sugar cup-for-cup; powdered sugar packs denser than crystallized sugar, which would sway the cookie to be sweeter. Try either measuring out your crystallized sugar and then powdering it yourself in a blender, coffee grinder, or food processor (tips and instructions here) or weigh out your crystallized sugar and then weigh out the same mass of powdered sugar.

I've noticed this before with sugar-dipped cookies; sometimes the sugar is, surprisingly, not sweet enough. I think I'd like this with a simple powdered sugar and milk icing (slightly heaped 1/2 C powdered sugar to 1 T milk) or a nice cream cheese frosting.

As for chocolate, I had wanted to dip them halfway and let it set, but I really couldn't be bothered after dinner. I think it's a nice cookie with bits of dark chocolate on top, but it would looks much nicer with a quick dip in a vat of the melted stuff and the proportion of cookie to chocolate would be lovely.

So what is it; sugar or chocolate on top? I vote no crystallized sugar on top and find the options of icing, cream cheese frosting, and chocolate-dipped equally delightful. If you get around to trying these variations, let me know what you think!

Slightly Less Traditional Chinese Almond Cookies

Lard. The word itself doesn't even sound nice. I'm sure it has virtues that I'm just too stubborn to see, but I... I just can't bring myself to even consider looking for it. The recipe for Chinese almond cookies at allrecipes.com calls for lard and several reviews caution against using substitutes, but I just... can't. Here's the recipe as I've interpreted it:

Chinese Almond Cookies

Yields approximately 55 cookies

2 3/4 C  all-purpose flour
1 C  white sugar
1/2 tsp  baking soda
1/2 tsp  salt
1/2 C  Crisco shortening
1/2 C  unsalted butter
1  egg
2 1/2 tsp  almond extract
1/2 tsp  vanilla
whole almonds and sliced almonds
1  egg beaten, for egg wash

1. Preheat the oven to 325 F (165 C).
2. Sift flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt together.
3. Cut in shortening and butter until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs.
4. Add egg and extracts and mix until homogeneous (I used my brand new hand mixer with stand/bowl set up on the lowest speed for about two minutes, scraping once).
5. Roll into 1" balls and set 2" apart on a clean baking sheet (there's no need to grease, plus I used silicone baking mats so you never need to grease).
6. Brush the tops of cookies with the egg wash and gently press almonds into cookie centers.
7. Bake  for 15-18 minutes.
8. Remove immediately to cool on racks.

Almond Cookie Reflections

I wish for a pastry blender every time I encounter dry ingredients that need fat cut in. I don't have a desperate need for this tool, but I want it. This is what I can manage with a butter knife gently chopping through the flour mix, butter, and shortening on my palm. Not too shabby.

The original recipe asks that you sift the flour before measuring it and I just don't see the need to. It measured approximately the same after I'd sifted the first cup, so I didn't bother with the rest until I sifted it together with the dry ingredients.

While rolling the balls (I scooped with a teaspoon then rolled), the dough didn't seem like a delicate thing requiring double sifting and I felt justified in ignoring part of the original instructions (look at how they glisten with fat, mmm).

Sometimes reviews are helpful to read, sometimes they just don't apply to what you did. A lot of people said that the dough was way too dry and that they added another egg or two or some milk. I didn't get any fuss from the dough with just one egg, but maybe theirs was a problem of hand mixing as opposed to throwing it in the bowl and letting machines do the work. I liked the idea of the egg wash and judging by some of the pictures people sent in, I'd say the egg wash was a visual must; the cookies came out nicely golden after 18 minutes.

Reader, now this may shock you but, I've never had these cookies before, so I wouldn't know what the texture or taste is supposed to be like. They are definitely crisp and a bit on the dense side the way I made them. The whole apartment smelled of almond essence while they baked, but the actual flavor is sweet and mild. Tell me what your ideal Chinese almond cookie is like!

As always, if you have any recipes you'd like to see me attempt, please send them my way. Next on the to do list: croissants.

Update: I just tried baking these without the egg wash (I threw half the dough in the fridge the other day) and they come out nicely golden yellow anyway. I think taking a minute or so off the baking time also left them a tad more delicate while still deliciously crisp.

I made these as a goodbye sweet for my friend that's heading back to Texas tomorrow. I hope they take her home with a few good memories of Singapore.

Kitchen Wish Lists & Being Your Own Fairy Godmother

Dear Reader, meet Almond Roca Cookie. ARC, meet Reader. ARC is from the oven of Emeril BAM! Lagasse at the Food Network. Indeed, she is made of sugar and spice and everything nice, as detailed here. I made this particular batch for an F1 get together a couple Sundays ago, substituting toffee bits for hammer smashed Werther's Original candies and omitting the oil for the dark chocolate drizzle. Unfortunately, ARC is not what we're here to discuss today. She was just a lure. I promise we'll come back to ARC another day.

Now that I have your attention...

Late last night, in an afternoon nap induced state of alertness, I cruised the internet for recipes. I found some of the loveliest things to shove in the oven, but through my wanderings, I became increasingly aware of the kitchen equipment I was lacking/craving.

So, between obsessive compulsively linking recipe titles in my email, I came up with a kitchen wish list:

Things I Wish I Owned That Make Me Feel Dreamy When I See Them

• tart dish
• stainless steel mixing bowl(s)
• sharp knife (or rather a whole beautiful set of sharp knives)
• rubber spatula(s)
• 12+ cup muffin tin
• ramekins (plural is not an option)
• souffle dish
• electric hand mixer
• frosting spatula
• full spice rack
• mini torch
• cake stand
• pastry blender

I have always loved kitchen things. My boyfriend, being the wonderful and thoughtful man that he is, got me several pieces of kitchen equipment for my birthday last month. I have used them all, save for the fondue set, which we will remedy very soon in a chocolate dipped weekend paradise. Still, my addiction is not satiated. That's the nature of addiction, it's never enough.

I don't think I've ever seen a ramekin (let alone a mini torch) for sale in Singapore, so I looked to the all knowing internet for insider secrets. Big thanks to Only Slightly Pretentious Food and  She Bakes and She Cooks for pointing me to Lau Choy Seng at 23,25 Temple Street (below).

It sounds strange, but I seriously felt like a kid in a candy store. Shelves and shelves of knives, stainless steel bowls, gleaming white porcelain, and so much more I don't need but desire to slip off the shelf and into my basket anyway. Stainless steel mixing bowl, check. Sharp knife, check. Rubber spatula, check. After finding out that they were completely out of 8cm ramekins, I took about five seconds to tell the man I wanted eight of the 9cm size.

After a reasonable kitchen supply binge at LHS, I decided to give the other shop recommended in the blogs a try. Just down the street is Sia Huat Pte Ltd at 7, 9, & 11 Temple Street. Yes, it is true what they say, SHPL is a bit more organized than LHS, but the employees seem to be running around like mad and answer questions nearly breathless before dashing off to help the next customer. Rumor has it that they are more expensive than LHS, but I barely glanced at prices as I drifted down the aisles, eyes glazing over from the money I just spent at LHS and the glistening array of cookie cutters before me. They had just about any shape I could think of. I find this crab cutter aaadorable (below).

Unfortunately, neither store had what I envision a proper hand mixer to look like. They both had upright mixers (drooool), a variety that would fit neatly on the kitchen counter and also some that could destroy a toddler should one fall in, but no hand mixers.

When you're at a loss in the hunt for kitchen appliances, go to the domestic holy land: the department stores. I gave Takashimaya's basement a spin and while they have a decent selection and knowledgeable staff, I decided to shop around. Just down Orchard Road was TANGS. The people that work there are generally useless and have no real scope of their stock, so I took to wandering and happened upon a hand mixer that comes with a stand/bowl set up and a set of dough hooks for $39SG. DIRT CHEAP. Now it lives in my kitchen and makes me smile. While it's no shiny KitchenAid upright mixer, it'll do.

After my kitchen supply bender, my previous list now looks like this (items in purple have been added after the original post was published):

• tart dish
• 12+ cup muffin tin
• souffle dish
• full spice rack
• mini torch
• cake stand
• pastry blender
• pizza cutter
• cookie sheets (plural is important because one is not enough)
• an actual upright mixer (dream big)
• a jolly assortment of random cookie cutters

Much more compact, no? (Answer: Definitely no, because...) Still, I can say with absolute certainty that this list will swell again, but that's how wish lists go. In the meantime, I can day dream about fancy things to do with my little army of ramekins.

Current weather in Singapore: Warm, absolutely pouring, and peppered with lightning and thunder. Love it.