This Tuesday’s edition with Tuesdays With Dorie is Linzer Sablés!

Made of almond meal & flour, Linzer Sablés is a more European-style cookie which I really enjoyed because it’s not the sugary floury stuff we’ve been making of late. Or a rich shortbread sort of thing. It’s light on the palate, and easy on the stomach! Haha. Again, I keep thinking it’s a healthy recipe but it’s not reaaaally. Just healthier, and it doesn’t give me a sick feeling trying some of em! Guilt ease, guilt ease.

Anyways! I completely forgot about the challenge, but I woke up early in the morning to prepare the dough, roll it out and stuff it in the fridge. When I came back home, it was there all waiting for me to cut it out and bake as you can see in the next process. One of the easier recipes in town!

Process. As you can see, there was meant to be an ultra hip snowflake version of Linzer Sables. But they fell, and shattered into a thousand pieces. Hence, no pictures. :(

I rolled the dough VERY THIN and not 1/4 inches like said in the recipe because of the comments on it on TWD. I kinda rolled it TOO thin I think! I got it right on my next tray in the oven! I got a total of FORTY ONE (41) flipping cookies and that is not a bad thing! It went in the oven for 10 minutes and came out good. I suggest watching it and taking it out when pale brown already, and DON’T wait for it to turn golden brown! That’ll be too dry. But only listen to me if you’re rolling it less than 1/4″.

Beautiful cookies aye?

When they came of the oven, I tried one and said “ARGHHH I’m never making these again!”. But the next moment my sister took one and goes ITS GOOD MAKE THESE AGAIN! So there you have it, two schools of thought. I now agree with the sister though, because the rest of them said the same thing.

I took whatever jam I had in the kitchen, gave it a quick stir and spread it over the cookies and gave it one nice pat with the sandwich half. Oh I forgot to mention, I used a bottle cap for the holes. I saw over at Kim’s blog that she used the other end of a piping tip. BING DURRR!!! I did the correct end of it and got such tiny holes that I thought, surely Dorie has some fancy schmancy huge piping tips for this…. :P

Moving on! It’s not too sweet, and the jam just complements it so well. I give it good ratings!

To conclude, I give it an A. I got good comments from the family on this one, and I agree! I much prefer this to the American-style cookies that make me feel like I owe the gym my whole life. It doesn’t make my mouth feel floury and buttery. It leaves a really good taste! A clean taste, I’d say. Wow. What I mean nowadays, is beyond even my comprehension.

Due to the almond meal, it’s really nice, crumbly and nutty. Le bro said “eh champs I like this. it’s not floury like I expected.” The addition of the jam (I used Giant’s Blackberry Jam haha. Cheapskate but GOOD!) was great! I wouldn’t have liked the Chocolate as it’d be heavy-on-heavy.

Hop on over to the hip and happening blog of Noskos (or Dennis!) to get the recipe for the Linzer Sablés.

NEXT UP! Silvery Blue (my theme this year!) Christmas Carrot Cake for Sheryl. I’M SO SORRY BABE! I did different wordings. Thank God it’s okay! I feel really bad….but it is really pretty! So here you go:

Question
What are some Christmas flavours you have cemented in your mind & tastebuds?

I can only think of presents. HAHA. No food ideas! I’m trying to plan a Christmas menu with traditional things, before I put a twist on them. Would appreciate your feedback!

What would you do if I told you I was an alien from Brazil?

(FYI, I made the deadline. wahoo! eunice girl, you don’t have any issues with punctuality. keep on telling yourself that.) For our Tuesdays With Dorie entry this week, Dorie’s Thanksgiving Twofer Pie was chosen.

The morning after, we set up a mini studio shot with some of the junk in our house: my favourite S$2 rat-a-tat-tat cloth, my sister’s RM4 ‘designer’ plate & our old table mat. They have finally found meaning to life. Aww. Anyway. I do think the lighting looks great. Mm hmm. I’m surprised myself.

Being a Malaysian, and lover of Jesus, everyday is Thanksgiving for me, but I do understand that in a big island off the coast of the Atlantic, innocent turkeys are slaughtered, bags of sugar are consumed, and pumpkin pies & pecan pies’s standings are disputed.

Tired and flustered, Dorie Greenspan came up with a pie to end all tiresome but good for the soul enjoyable family feuds: A Twofer Pie. Twofer? Yes. Twofer…I’m guessing by it’s name, it means an intermarriage between the two warring families: Pumpkin & Pecan. A lot like the Capulets & Montagues. Just as Romeo & Juliet were blindly in love, so were Pumpkin & Pecan. Please don’t question this fact, I made it up.

Pretend this picture is a pie base. So, as you can see by the texture, it was very unshrinkable, this sweet tart pie base of Dorie’s. I quickly cut the freezin cold butter (i LOVE doing this!) with a steel knife and with my thunder fists and gently crumbled it and added a single yolk. By this last phrase, I am giving you hints as to my next baking endeavour. Try to guess. Not enough information? Read on for more clues.

Dorie’s Easy Peasy Unshrinkable Tart Base
(but maybe all tart bases are unshrinkable and it’s the pie bases that are notorious. who knows! this base got good reviews so here it is!)

Ingredients:
1½ cups plain flour
½ cup icing sugar (omit and add more salt if you want a savoury base. I wished I did)
¼ tsp salt
1 stick plus 1 tablespoon very cold (or frozen) unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
1 large egg yolk

Always the studious one, I skipped reading all the instructions and just crumbled the butter into the sifted flour, icing sugar & salt. I lumped in the egg yolk and tada, pressed it down into the pan with my thumbs without greasing it. Oh dear, how many rules have I broken already? The bottom flew up a little but I punched it down and pumpkin-ed it.

I de-seeded dear old Pumpkin (wait, is it unseeded? I don’t know what’s the word for de-seeding!) and put him in the nude. Yep, his dad got mad about that. He was in boiling soup! His dad does NOT support nudity. In this case, it was boiling water. And I was the hired don to do the dirty work.

I boiled it in smaller slices for 12 minutes.

After mashing it, it looked way too watery. I got nervous and anxious and giddy all at the same time. But just the thought of unrequited love spurred me on to continue. I made the strange Pecan layer that was very watery and dissolved into the Pumpkin layer immediately upon spreading. Or rather, plopping in. Strange. Is this supposed to happen? I had anxious guests outside, and my heart pounded even more. Nonetheless, I had to persevere because you see, pressure is easier to deal with than disappointed.

The nuts, yes the nuts. The nuts were much like Romeo’s friends in helping him with the whole feud. Unfortunately, I can’t remember their names because they weren’t handsome in the book I read. Moving on, the nuts helped so much I began feeling like an unstoppable baker, I mean, iron maiden, because decorating it on top already made the pie look successful. FYI. I bought those pecans (how in the world is that word pronounced? Peeken?) for RM17.50 for 250g. Insane. Anyway.

I made two pies.

Perfect Looking but Way Too Sweet Pie No. 1

No. 1 was perfect in looks and in every other way, except the sweetness level. It was way too sweet, the whole pecan and pumpkin layer and the sweet tart base. It was diabetes infested, to be frank.

Pie No. 2; not so handsome, but a better taste.

No. 2 was not as attractive, and was only eaten the next day after much cajoling. It turned out to be the saviour. A thinner layer of pumpkin & pecan as well as different nuts on top made it deeelightful to eat. Because I felt sorry for the unappealing pie, I put in macadamia nuts (yum!), pecans and almonds. This made it all the better. Reminds me of some people I’ve met. Don’t judge a pie by it’s looks, gentleladies & wonderful guys.

This pie used 3 eggs and 3 egg yolks in total. Now can you guess what I’m making tonight? :) (another clue: it’s giving me a headache!)

Do check out the other bakerettes and bakers on Tuesdays with Dorie. I am :)

Coming soon! If you’ve checked here for the weekly TWD, it’s in the making and bakin!

Mmmm!

Have you ever considered what food bloggers really eat? Or maybe what health-conscious-food-bloggers-trying-to-be-healthy-but-who-love-making-dessert eat?

(That’s why these people are my heroes.)

Sometimes, health-conscious-food-bloggers-trying-to-be-healthy-but-who-love-making-dessert (HCFBTTBHWLMD) try to modify a dessert to be a little more health-ward so they can actually enjoy the fat of the land…

But sometimes…

things happen. bad, burnt things…

yup, I burnt the fabulous brown rice pudding by Dorie!

but luckily: my gramma at the back kitchen was brewing some asian black rice pudding up called BEE KO MOI! PTL!!! Keep reading for the recipe! It’s eaten with coconut milk, made slightly salty and it’s the PERFECT combination ever! slightly sweet, slightly salty. mmm.

The Chosen One: Bee Koh Moi aka Black Glutinous Rice Pudding

Total comfort food for kitchen disasters! When I had a teaspoon of Dorie’s salvaged pudding, I went crying to my gramma’s arms and her bee-ko-moi. Haha. I am just kidding about that last part…

So although today is Tuesday, and Tuesdays are henceforth always gonna be with Dorie, I’m afraid to say that my sweet lil ol’ gramma’s Black Glutinous Rice Pudding stole the show. But only because it was the more successful version, I will try both again. Here are my comparisons:

My Taste Notes & Comments
Dorie’s Arborio Rice Pudding, White or Black
Or brown? I was going au naturale with the whole brown rice and brown sugar deal, but couldn’t compromise on the whole milk (I mean, who dareth defieth Dorie’s orders!?!??! Yeah cowboy YOU do it at yer own risk! *hides* says the girl who just changed arborio rice for BROWN LONG GRAIN RICE. dear me.). Soy milk, anyone?

“Arborio rice is an Italian high-starch short-grain rice. It is named after the town of Arborio in the Po Valley, where it is grown. Cooked, the rounded grains are firm and creamy due to the high starch content of this rice variety. They are the traditional rice in risotto.”

Risotto. Courtesy of The Relucant Gourmet

Using arborio rice is the correct choice for making risotto (a creamy, moist, flavoursome Italian rice dish, Italian in origin. Like a thick soup. O_o My Asian mind can’t take this any more. LOL!) I mean, I know I’m weird. Stuff like this appeal to me! But this was a little too much. I will try it again to fix it up.

The results are normally creamy. Hey, my brown rice pudding was creamy too! Just burnt, as well, for added flavour. How does that work I wonder? Other TWDers had problems with it being too liquidy. Well, it could be that my milk spilled when it bubbled over. Issues, issues.

I think mainly it was WAY. TOO. RICH for my poor stomach. I couldn’t take it. All the milk and sugar. *shudder* Although..with those ingredients, I have heard of something apparently amazing called Glorified Rice…anyone know what this is?

It thickened so bad I’m now kinda afraid of milk and sugar all starched up. I plan to try again, and watch the pudding like a hawk! It tastes like burnt peanut butter at the moment. I may add in some fruits and some more water (no more milk!) to try eating it up.

Next, I don’t like it so rich. I prefer things lighter. But I have to DEMAND to know why in the world Isabelle’s turned out SO PERFECT!!!! Now that is the rice pudding I’m talking about! Check it out! The texture is amazing.

next up:

Black Glutinous Rice Pudding
Also known as:

• Black Sticky Rice Pudding
• Pulut Hitam / Bubur Pulut Hitam (in Malay)
• Bee Koh Moi (in Hokkien)
• Black Rice Dessert
• Hak Lo Mai (in Cantonese)

Courtesy of zaracookout. This is what I really wanted, our coconut cream was a little too watery. Had to stretch it for many mouths!

It’s black glutinous rice boiled forever with water & sugar then eaten with salted coconut milk (called santan here). It’s lighter & easier on the stomach. I love it! The slightly salty-sweet combo always appealed to me.

You’ll need:

2 cups black Glutinous rice
1 cup sugar
2 pandan leaves
A pinch of salt
Thick coconut milk

How to make it:

1. Wash and soak the rice for a few hours first.
2. Cook the rice on medium heat until the rice has soften. This takes about one hour or more. Refill the water when necessary.
3. Add in the pandan leaves, salt and sugar. Adjust the sugar as you like. The end result should be a dark purple coloured thick paste.
4. To serve, put the pudding in a bowl, then add a few dollops of salted coconut milk/cream according to preference. You can even swirl hearts onto it.

Okay, you guys who have never tried it before have GOT to try this out!!!
One last thing: Healthy Foodblogs. Man these people are crazy insane!!! I love it! Imagine eating totally healthy ice cream! When I was 13-15, I did this, but because of the work & success rate, I just got lured to the dark side of confectioneries. Man! I have strayed. I will be going back to my healthy roots. So, watch this space! And check out these healthy foodblogs.)

Good night!

I’ve been enjoying a food blogging event called Tuesdays With Dorie for a while now. During my foodblog-hopping (a very enjoyable thing!), I was puzzled by an acronym – TWD – that foodies talked about it a lot.

It’s an insane(ly awesome) community baking through a book strangely titled “Baking” by Dorie Greenspan – yup, all 491 pages! Anyday is baking day, but Tuesday is blogging day!

Today I stand before you, officially a TWD noob member! Whee!! *blows kisses* Yeah baby, No. 350 but no less excited! This week we’re making Kugelhopf.

Kugel-wha???

A French concoction with an identity crisis.

Also known as a cake bread, kugelhopf is apparently a dream baked in a slice. Simple, the goodness of the richer brioche (okay so I’ve never eaten brioche in my life…) but light. I got a little anxious here as 80% of my yeast baking experiments have rocked. Like, literally.

I read through the recipe on Sunday and thought “man, is this worth 6 hours of my life!?” and promptly began Monday night (…I do plan my time so well!)

How It Was Made.
Contrary to a lot of bakers, I had a lot of fun making this! I was done at midnight, starting at 8, completely disobedient to our great mama Dorie, but having a lot of fun in the process. I punched as I like, and mixed whither I fancied.

I didn’t start out so cocky though. My heart sank when I mixed in the eggs. The dough, if we could call it that, was soooo wet. At this rate, I thought, I’ll never be able to call myself a real baker! Keep reading folks…

The recipe? It’s pretty straightforward. First you boil the raisins & let em dry. Then you mix the yeast in the warm milk. No trouble there. Next, mix the flour & salt.

>> I used brown sugar & sea salt. I do think her loaf could’ve done with a little more of a savoury flavour. Anyone agree?

Now Dorie says to attach yourself a dough hook and mix up the dough with the beaten eggs added in slowly. Now don’t despair if it looks NOTHING like dough cos, it will! Read the next paragraph!

I don’t have a dough hook, so I attached my regular butter-and-sugar-creaming-hook and looked at the dough square in the eye, hands on my hips with the air of a hero. I am a hero. I will be a real baker! 5 minutes on and hey, it’s doing pretty good! It looks remotely doughy. So no need to invest in a dough hook! But beware of the dough riding up into the mixer. The yeast in my dough was terrifyingly lethal – nothing like the “shaggy” Dorie had pronounced!

I put in the brown sugar & butter, all the time fighting with the dough riding up to destroy my poor little mixer. Suddenly I got a little creative. Hmm, how bout a Mango Kugelhopf hey? I put in 1 tbsp of mango essence…

>> Dear friends, please know that any flavour in bread will totally evaporate if you put it in at such an early stage.

Although 2 days into this post, the kugelhopf has a tinge of mango flavour sweetly seeped in, I would rather have put in dried mangos, boiled ala raisin boiling-method.

My confidence and the dough rose throughout this time and I even had time to have a guest over and chat. It was an awesome experience peeking back at the dough and having it rise SO HIGH. Hello yeast where have you been all my life?

Dorie said to punch the bread down till it could rise no more, but dude. I only have one night and every flippin time I punched it down it rose right up again! Defiant, that bread is. All I did now was keep on punching and munching (said for poetic effect, last statement is not true) until I figured it was high time to stuff it in the oven! :) I skipped the refridgeration part. Time, time, time.

Ooh. I remembered the molds my granmma has for making her famous Kuih Buluh, a traditional Malaysian Chinese treat. No one said fusion was bad right? Well we were gonna try a little french-chinese mix right over here…

My gramma’s old detailed pans being Kugelhopf-ed.

Last but not least, I let it all rise again. Before, I had still very little faith it would rise up again, so I’d switched my bundt pan’s tower into a plain cake pan with upright edges. Wrong move! It rose.

AND ROSE.

In the oven, it rose some more! 20 minutes, later, it was done. I reduced the temperature to 160 though, as things (and burnt tops) were heating up way too fast!

I completely forgot about the icing sugar part though I spread melted butter & some brown sugar on top.

Verdict
It isn’t a rich bread, it’s very light, and a nice breakfast to have!

Ratings: B+
I liked the light loaf! Didn’t regret making it at all. But it wasn’t my favourite. It was great while it was hot, but my sisters said it was dry the next day. It may be because I didn’t keep it airtight, or kugelhopfs are just not so cool. I think it’ll be deeelightful if toasted though. It was pretty kewl..gelhopf. I wished I added more flavour like candied mango slices, more mango extract, maybe some light alchohol and I wisheddd I didn’t leave out the icing sugar! The butter also didn’t soak because, I very embarassingly, didn’t turn it upside down.

Thanks Yolanda of The All Purpose Girl for hosting this week! Go check her out for the recipe and most importantly, check out the other great bakes on the TWD Blogroll. Have fun!

Next up on TWD: Arborio Rice Pudding! (who can say ew!??? well we’ll see next week!)

(PS: Please keep me (and mankind) in your praaayurs because I’m going for my first driving lesson tomorrow morning at 8am!)