Ghoriba (Moroccan Semolina Cookies)

Ingredients:

1/3 cup ghee or butter
2/3 cup icing sugar
1 cup fine semolina flour
2 tbsp ice cold water

Garnish:

Powdered/icing sugar for cookies surface dusting (optional)

Method:

Preheat oven to 180 °C.

Line a big baking tray with parchment paper; set aside.

In a large bowl, cream butter together with sugars till creamy, pale and fluffy.

Gradually, add-in flour and knead into smooth and soft dough.

Wrap well with plastic wrapper and set aside to rest for at least 3 hours.

Divide dough into 15 pieces of dough balls (about a walnut size); set aside covered.

Lightly greased or flour a cookies mold, press a smooth dough ball into mold and tilt out cookies carefully (I use jelly/pudding plastic mold).

Alternatively, roll out dough flat to about quarter inch thick and cut accordingly with cookies cutter.

Arrange the shaped cookies on the prepared tray and bake cookies in the preheated oven for 20 minutes or until lightly golden brown.

Remove from oven (If desire, dust-on with some powdered sugar right this moment), transfer onto wire rack and set aside to cool completely before storing into an airtight container.

Yields 15 cookies.

Peanut Butter Cookies

Ingredients:

3/4cup all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/8 tsp salt

1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 egg (lightly whisk a egg and divide into 2 portions)
1/4 cup creamy peanut butter

Garnish:

45 pieces of toasted sunflower seed kernels

Method:

Preheat oven to 190 °C.

Line a big baking tray with parchment paper; set aside.

In a bowl, mix together flour, baking soda and salt; set aside.

In a large bowl, cream butter together with sugars till creamy, pale and fluffy.

Add-in egg and peanut butter, whisk to incorporate fully.

Gradually, stir-in flours mixture and knead into smooth and soft dough.

In between two pieces of plastic wrapper, roll out dough flat by using rolling pin to the thickness of 1/4 inch.

Cut dough accordingly with cookies cutter and gashes cookies upper surface with knives.

Place shaped cookies onto the prepared tray and press a sunflower seed kernels onto the center of each cookies.

Bake cookies in the preheated oven for 12 minutes or until aroma and cooked through.

Remove from oven, transfer onto wire rack and set aside to cool completely before storing into an airtight container.

Yields 45 cookies.

Malaysian Sambal Chili Chicken

Ingredients:

1 kg chicken, cut into bite size
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
2 ½ tsp salt or to taste

3 tbsp cooking oil
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 knob fresh ginger, minced
4 tbsp sambal omelek chili paste
1 ½ tbsp toasted belacan powder (dried shrimp paste)
5 onion, minced
3 stalks lemongrass, minced (use white part only)
1 (400g) canned tomato pulp

Method:

In a large bowl, mix-in turmeric powder and salt, add-in chicken, stir to incorporate well and set aside to marinade for at least 30 minutes (ease to mix with hand).

Heat oil in a wok, non-stick deep pan or pot, over high heat, saute marinated chicken for about 25 minutes or till slightly browned, remove chicken from pot and set aside.

Add-in minced garlic and ginger paste, stir-fry till starting to be golden brown (about 2 minutes).

Add-in chili paste and belacan powder, continue stir-fry for another half minute or till aroma.

Add-in onion and lemongrass paste, continue stir-fry for about 1 minute or till fragrant.

Return chicken into the pot, pour-in tomato pulp, stir-fry till chicken cooked thoroughly and the gravy is thicken (about 15 minutes).

Dish-up and best serve hot immediately with rice.

Kuih Bangkits (Tapioca Cookies)

Thanks to YY for this lovely Swiss Watch...I like it very much...Happy Chinese New Year !!!

Ingredients:

2 cups tapioca flour
1 pandan leaves (fragrant screwpine), roughly cut
1/3 cup egg (from 1 egg)
1/3 cup sugar
1/12 cup coconut milk

Method:

In a heat resistance pot or wok, dry-fry flour together with pandan leave for about 15 minutes, remove from heat, discard leave and set aside to cool completely.

Preheat oven to 160 °C.

Line a big baking tray with parchment paper; set aside.

In a large bowl, whisk egg with sugar till turn to milk white, thick, glossy and sugar is fully dissolves.

Pour the egg solution into cooled flour, follow by coconut milk and knead to smooth stiff dough.

In between two pieces of plastic wrapper, roll out dough flat by using rolling pin to the thickness of 1 cm.

Cut dough accordingly with cookies cutter and gashes cookies upper surface with knives.

Alternatively (traditionally), lightly flour a cookies wooden mold, press a smooth dough ball into mold and tilt out cookies carefully.

Place shaped cookies onto the prepared tray and bake cookies in the preheated oven for 25 minutes or until aroma and cooked through (cookies should remain whitish in color).

Remove from oven, transfer onto wire rack and set aside to cool completely before storing into an airtight container.

Yields 36 cookies.

Chinese Almond Cookies

Ingredients:

1 ½ cups rice flour
1 cup icing sugar
1/2 cup blanched almonds, finely coarse
1 egg
60 mL almond oil

Egg Wash:

1 egg yolk
1/2 tbsp water

Garnish:

12 blanched almonds, split into half.

Method:

Preheat oven to 160 °C.

Line a big baking tray with parchment paper; set aside.

In a large bowl, mix-in all ingredients and knead to smooth and soft dough, divide dough into 25 pieces of dough balls (about a walnut size); set aside covered.

Lightly greased or flour a cookies mold, press a smooth dough ball into mold and tilt out cookies carefully (I use jelly/pudding plastic mold).

Alternatively, roll out dough flat to about quarter inch thick and cut accordingly with cookies cutter.

Place shaped cookies onto the prepared tray, brush-on egg wash and press a piece of half almond onto center.

Bake cookies in the preheated oven for 40 minutes or until golden brown and fragrant.

Remove from oven, transfer onto wire rack and set aside to cool completely before storing into an airtight container.

Yields 25 cookies.

Chocolate-Lemon Zebra Yogurt Cake with Chocolate Mousses Topping

Ingredients:

3 cups all purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt

200 g butter
3 cups sugar
4 egg
250 g plain yogurt
4 tsp zest of lemon

3 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
1 ½ tbsp lemon juice

Lemon Syrup:

1 cup lemon juice
1/2 cup sugar
4 tsp zest of lemon

Dark Chocolate Mousse:

200 g bittersweet dark chocolate
50 g butter
40 mL espresso coffee
200 mL whipped cream
2 eggs, separated
1 tbsp icing sugar

White Chocolate Mousses:

100 g white chocolate
25 g butter
20 mL whiskey
100 mL whipped cream
1 egg, separated
1/2 tbsp icing sugar

Method:

To prepare the cake:

Preheat oven to 180 °C.

Lightly grease a springform cake pan (26 cm in diameter), dust bottom and side of pan with bread crumbs and tapping out excess; set aside.

In a bowl, mix together flour, baking powder and salt; set aside.

In a large bowl, cream butter with sugar till creamy, pale and glossy.

Add-in eggs, yogurt and lemon zest, whisk till homogeneous batter forms, divide batter into 2 portions; set aside.

Add cocoa powder and lemon juice into one portion, whisk to smooth batter; set aside.

Gradually, scoop a ladle of plain batter into the center of the prepared pan, follow by another ladle of cocoa batter onto the middle of plain batter.

Alternate the two batters topping and layering till finish (do slowly to allow batters to spread by it own).

Bake in the preheated oven for 45 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the middle of cake comes out clean.

Meanwhile to prepare the syrup, mix all the syrup ingredients in a pan, cook till sugar dissolves; set aside.

Remove cake from oven, let cake cool in pan for 10 minutes.

Run a thin flexible knife or spatula around the pan to loosen the cake, transfer cake onto a plate and pour the prepared syrup all over the warm cake; set aside to allows it to soak till cool completely.

To prepare the chocolate mousses:

In a deep bowl, whisk 300 mL whip cream until stiff, divide into 3 portions and keep in refrigerator.

In another deep bowl, whisk 3 egg whites with 1 ½ tbsp icing sugar over double boiler till soft peak form; divide into 3 portions; set aside.

Dark Mousse: Over a double boiler, melt dark chocolate and butter; pour-in espresso, stir to incorporate; remove from heat; add-in egg yolks to the chocolate mixture one at a time, beat to mix; gently stir-in 2 portions of whipped cream to the chocolate mixture; gradually fold-in 2 portions of egg whites, stir to incorporate well; set aside.

White Mousse: Over a double boiler, melt white chocolate and butter; remove from heat and pour-in whiskey, stir to incorporate; add-in egg yolk to the chocolate mixture, beat to mix; gently stir-in 1 portion of whipped cream to the chocolate mixture; gradually fold-in the remaining 1 portion of egg whites, stir to incorporate well; set aside.

To assemble:

Spoon half of the dark mousse onto the cooled cake and spread out mousse evenly.

Spoon-on the white mousse and gently spread out evenly.

Spoon-on the remaining dark mousse onto the white mousse and gently spread out evenly (spread down some of the final layer of dark mousse all over the sides of cake for sides-frosting.

Coat cake sides accordingly and chilled well before serving.

Pineapple Rolls/Tarts

Ingredients:

Fresh Pineapple Filling:

2 cups grated ripped or half ripped pineapple (from 1 medium pineapple; hard skin and core removed)
1 ½ cups sugar or to taste
3 tbsp lemon juice

Pastry:

1 ¾ cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp cornstarch
1/8 tsp salt
2/3 cup butter
1/3 cup icing sugar
1 egg yolk

Egg Wash:

1 egg yolk
1 tbsp water

Method:

To prepare the pineapple filling:

In a wok or pot, boil together grated pineapple, sugar and lemon juice over medium heat till sugar dissolves; let simmer for 30 minutes (stir occasionally); continue stirring for about another 10 minutes to thicken the filling; remove from heat and set aside to cool completely; divide into 20 portions.

To prepare the pastry:

In a bowl, mix together flour, cornstarch and salt; set aside.

In a large bowl, cream butter together with sugar till creamy, pale and fluffy.

Add-in egg yolk, whisk to incorporate fully.

Gradually, stir-in flours mixture and knead into smooth and soft dough.

Divide dough into 10 portions.

To assemble:

Preheat oven to 180 °C.

Line a big baking tray with parchment paper; set aside.

With greased hand palms, roll each pineapple portions into smooth balls; set aside.

Form each pastry dough portions into balls, flatten length-wide in between wax plastic papers by using rolling pin (thickness about 1/2 cm).

With a knives, gently gashes pastry surface diagonally.

Carefully, lift-up gashed pastry and transfer onto greased hand palm via spatula (gashed side down).

Place-on a portion of filling at one end and roll-up pastry to the other end; press gently to join both ends.

Place filled rolls onto the prepared tray.

Brush-on egg wash and bake rolls in the preheated oven for 15 minutes or until slightly golden brown.

Remove from oven, set aside to cool completely before storing into an airtight container..

Yields 10 pineapple rolls (To finish the remaining filling, just repeat the pastry).