Julia's Melting Moments Biscuits

I always wanted to make this biscuit for ages, but the idea of eating biscuit never appealed to me. I just don't like sweet treats. So now and then I will buy some chocolate at the office for "d'oh, this should be done this way not that way moment", but hardly I can finish my chocolate in one go, or sometimes I just get distracted by something and then forgot to eat it for days... It annoys my manager sometime :)

Thankfully, my colleagues are gym friendly people, even sometimes I wonder if they are some undercover professional athletes because  they look so fit even though we have an overflow of chocolate and sweets; unfortunately none of them is the twin of Rafa.

Look at me, I already put every kilo back to it place since I work there. So last Friday was my manager's last day before her wedding leave. We decided to bake a little something to wish her luck with all the preps. So I was thinking about this "Melting Moments" Biscuit because a wedding can be a melting moment for a lot of people.

From the parents who let their baby go to start her/his own family, the merging of two big families with their different backgrounds, the madness of wedding preparations being (finally) over, the joy of your money is my money status becomes official, to the start of where should we spent our christmas dinner... etc.

Anyway, i just found the right opportunity to make these cookies without the need to force myself to eat the cookies. I ate 1 and it really melts in the mouth... not disappointed! Making your own jam is really recommended to balance the sweetness of the biscuit and butter cream. The homemade jam is less sweet than the store bought one. I used frozen mixed berries instead of fresh raspberries for the jam. The biscuits only used about half of the jam I made, so either you make half of it or, if you already have a plan to have a scone on the next day, you keep some for that.

So here is the recipe:

Julia's Melting Moments Biscuits

Ingredients

Biscuits:

180g unsalted butter

60g icing sugar, sifted

60g custard powder

1 teaspoon baking powder

180g plain flour

Vanilla buttercream:

100g butter, softened

2 teaspoons vanilla bean paste

1 cup icing sugar, sifted

Raspberry jam:

250g fresh or frozen raspberries 

250g caster sugar

Juice of ½ a lemon

½ teaspoon gelatine powder

Icing sugar, to serve

Method

1. Preheat oven to 180°C. Line two oven trays with baking paper.
2. For biscuits, cream butter for two minutes in an electric mixer with paddle attachment. Add icing sugar and custard powder and mix until combined. Sift the baking powder and flour together then add to the dough and mix well. Roll dough into 40g balls, place on a baking paper lined baking tray and press each ball with a fork to leave an indent. Bake biscuits for 16-18 minutes or until light golden. Stand on trays 5 minutes to cool then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
3. For buttercream, whisk butter and vanilla until smooth. Add icing sugar and beat until mixture forms a paste, the consistency of thick icing. Spoon into a piping bag fitted with a small star nozzle.
4. For jam, place raspberries, sugar and lemon juice in a small saucepan and cook for 20-30 minutes until thickened. Mix gelatine powder with one tablespoon cold water together. Remove the jam from the heat, stir through gelatine mixture. Transfer to a heatproof bowl and cool in the fridge.
5. To assemble, place a spoonful of cooled jam on the base of half the biscuits. Pipe buttercream in a circle onto the base of the other half of the biscuits. Gently press one of each biscuit together to form a melting moment. Dust with icing sugar before serving.

Source: Masterchef Australia


Copyright © 2016 Ovie Ober_Marbun

Kaastengels

125 gr butter

2 yolks

150 gr flour

25 gr maizena

1/4 tsp baking powder

100 gram edamer cheese,grated

50 gram cheddar cheese grated for decoration

1 beaten yolk for coating

How To:

1. Preheat oven to 325 F. In a large mixing bowl beat butter and yolks with an electric mixer on medium speed to high speed for 30 seconds. Add the edamer cheese, beat until combined, scraping sides of bowl occasionally. Beat in as much of the mixed of flour, maizena and baking powder as you can with the mixer. Stir in the remaining flour with a wooden spoon, kneading dough in bowl slightly to blend, if necessary.

2. Shape the dough, coat the top of the cookie with the beaten yolk and add the grated cheddar cheese for decoration.
3. Bake in the preheated oven about 12 minutes or until cookie edges are set an bottoms are golden. Transfer to a wire rack and let cool.

from: Sedap Sekejap

Espresso Delight Shortbread

230 gr cup butter, softened
2/3 cup sifted powder sugar
1 tbsp instant espresso powder or regular instant coffee crystals.
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 ounce semisweet chocolate, finely chopped
Sifted powdered sugar and/or unsweetened cocoa powder

1. Preheat oven to 160 C. In a large mixing bowl beat butter with an electric mixer on medium speed to high speed for 30 seconds. Add the 2/3 cup powdered sugar, espresso powder, vanilla, and cinnamon. Beat until combined, scraping sides of bowl occasionally. Beat in as much of the flour as you can with the mixer. Stir in the remaining flour and chocolate with a wooden spoon, kneading dough in bowl slightly to blend, if necessary.
2. Shape dough into 1 inch balls. Place balls on an ungreased cookie sheet. Flatten slightly.
3. Bake in the preheated oven about 12 minutes or until cookie edges are set an bottoms are golden. Transfer to a wire rack and let cool. Springkle with additional powdered sugar and/or cocoa powder.
To store: Place cookies between layers of waxed paper in an airtight container, cover. Store at room temperature for up to 3 days or freeze for up to 3 months

from: vania page

Afghan Biscuits

150 gr unsalted butter
1/3 cup soft brown sugar
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 tsp vanilla essence
1 cup plain flour
2 tbsp cocoa powder
1/3 cup desiccated coconut
1 1/2 cups lightly crushed cornflakes *
1/2 cup (100 g) choc dots / dark chopped chocolate.

Preheat oven to moderate 180 C. Line a biscuit tray with baking paper.
1. Using electric beaters, beat butter and sugar in small mixing bowl until light & creamy. Add egg and essence, beat thoroughly. Transfer mixture to large mixing bowl; add sifted flour and cocoa, coconut and cornflakes. Using a metal spoon, stir until ingredients are just combined and the mixture is almost smooth.
2. Drop one level tablespoon (sy pake 1/2 tablespoon) of mixture at a time onto prepared tray. Bake 20 minutes or until lightly browned. Allow biscuits to cool on tray.
3. Place choc dots into small heatproof bowl. Stand over pan of simmering water and stir until chocolate has melted and mixture is smooth. Remove from heat. Dip tops of biscuits into chocolate; allow set.
source: Biscuits & Slices, Periplus.

Kaastengels

Sumber: Sedap Sekejap

Bahan:
125 g mentega
2 kuning telur
25 g tepung maizena
150 g terigu
1/4 sdt baking powder
100 g keju edam, parut
50 g keju cheddar, parut panjang untuk hiasan
1 kuning telur untuk olesan

Cara Membuat:

1. Kocok mentega dan kuning telur sampai lembut, masukan keju edam.
2. Ayakkan terigu, baking powder dan maizena di atas adonan, aduk rata.
3. Bentuk panjang (lk 3 cm), olesi permukaannya dengan kuning telur. Taburi keju

Cardamom Cookies

Nigella’s Chewy Cardamom Macaroons
Modified by Riana

200g ground almonds
200g caster sugar (I reduced it to 160 g)
1/4 teaspoon finely ground cardamom (the green one, freshly grounded)
2 egg whites
1-2 tablespoons rosewater (nope, didn’t use it. But it’s nice to try it for once.)
approx 25g blanched almonds, 28 in number
(didn’t use either. I would though, if only my wallet allowed me to.)

How-to:

1. Preheat oven to 200C and line a baking sheet with baking parchment.
2. Mix together the ground almonds, sugar, ground cardamom and egg whites and knead with your hands, or use the flat beater in a freestanding mixer until you have a coherent paste (I used the whisk in my electric mixer, and it turned out fine). This is thick, and needs to be, so the mixer is the best bet.
3. Sprinkle some rose water onto your hands (if using, if not, just use regular water) and, thus scented and dampened it, form little balls, about the size of smallish walnuts - out of the grainy thick paste.
4. As you put them on the lined baking sheet - about 3cm apart - squish them down slightly so they are no longer balls but fat patties. Stud the center of each disc with a blanched almond (I decorated the cookies with cardamom seeds) and bake for 10-12 minutes. They will still be pretty pale when cooked but if they are beginning to turn golden at the edges, take them out of the oven and, lifting each one carefully with a spatula or fish slice, let them cool on a baking sheet.
5. When cooled, store in an airtight container. You can make them ahead of time, open-freeze on a sheet for an hour, then fill plastic bags with them and keep them stashed in the deep freezer. They probably don’t need more than an hour to defrost at room temperature and be ready for the table.

taken from http://pennylanekitchen.blogsome.com/2008/05/25/chewy/#more-142

PennyLane’s Chocolate Cookies

PennyLane’s Chocolate Cookies
Original source: Joy of Baking
Modified by: Riana

60 grams cake flour (low protein flour)
1 teaspoon baking powder
450 grams bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
60 grams unsalted butter or margarine
250 grams granulated white sugar
4 eggs, room temperature
1/4 teaspoon salt
4 gram instant coffee powder (2 sachet @ 2 grams), diluted with a few drops of hot water
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
175 grams semisweet dark chocolate chips
175 grams white chocolate chips
200 grams your favorite nuts, coarsely chopped and toasted (I used 100 grams almond slices and 100 grams kenari nuts –what is kenari nut in English? Canary nut? Not walnut, mind you, they’re different. Some people refer it as Java Almond, if that could be of any help. Otherwise, just use whatever nuts you fancy)

How-to:

1. Mix together the flour and baking powder. Set aside.
2. Melt the chocolate and butter/margarine in a stainless steel bowl placed over a saucepan of simmering water, stirring until smooth. Remove from heat and set aside.
3. In the bowl of your electric mixer (or with a hand mixer), beat the sugar, eggs and salt until pale yellow and thick, about 5 minutes. Beat in the melted chocolate mixture, coffee and vanilla extract. Sift the flour mixture above the batter and fold it in. Mix only until incorporated. Stir in the chocolate chips and nuts. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate the batter until firm, about 30-60 minutes.
4. Preheat oven to 170-180 degrees Celcius and place rack in center of oven. Line baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mat.
5. Using ice cream scoop, small or medium –whatever you prefer, scoop and drop batter onto prepared cookie sheets, spacing evenly. With moist fingers, press batter a little bit.Bake cookies about 10 - 12 minutes or until the tops of the cookies become dry and cracked, but are still shiny. Do not overbake these cookies.
6. Remove from oven and place baking pan on a wire rack to cool. When cookies are firm, remove from baking pan and let completely cool on rack.

Note:

• The time you need to let the batter harden in the fridge could be varied, depending on the chocolate you use. One chocolate could make the batter thicker or runnier than the other one. Check every 30 minutes, just until the batter is easy to scoop and drop without spreading.
• When you found your batter is too hard to scoop, or the cookies are too flat, it means the batter is too cold to begin with. Let it stand at room temperature until it reaches right consistency, then continue baking. The cookies should not be too flat.

taken from http://pennylanekitchen.blogsome.com/2008/10/21/chocolate-cookies-my-way/#more-153