M&M's Peanut Butter Cookies

This cookie was on the list at Christmas but I never got round to making it. I have always loved the combination of peanut butter with chocolate. It all started with Reese's peanut butter cups. I looked around for Reese's cups but unfortunately they were nowhere to be found. Luckily smart me remembered M&M's peanut butter chocolates. They will be a great replacement for the cups. This recipe is dedicated to my sis who loves these chocolates after I introduced them to her.

Ingredients -

2/3 cup peanut butter (creamy)
1 cup sugar (can cut down to 1/2 or 3/4 cup)
1 cup brown sugar (can cut down to 1/2 or 3/4 cup)
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
2-1/4 cup all purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
2 cups chopped peanut butter cups (about 6 1.6ozs packages)

Method -

1. In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter, peanut butter & sugars till light and fluffy. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Combine the flour, baking soda and salt; gradually add to creamed mixture and mix well. Stir in chocolate chips and peanut butter bits.

2. Drop by rounded tablespoonfuls 2inches apart onto ungreased baking sheets. Bake at 175deg C for 10-12mins or until edges are lightly browned. Cool for 2mins before removing to wire racks.

These were lovely and very colourful.

I would like to wish my Chinese readers a very Happy & Prosperous Lunar New Year, and for the rest, a Happy Valentine's Day!

Ovomaltine

My latest yummiest 'you got to try it' addictive chocolatey biscuits ever! I love these to bits. They have just the right amount of melted chocolate, and are very crunchy, and they leave behind an almost Milo-ish taste even though they are Ovaltine biscuits. Trust me on this one... go get a pack today! I found these gems on the shelves of NTUC Finest at Marine Parade Central. I'm not even sure if this is an authentic Ovaltine product as I've grown so used to the previous type of plain Ovaltine biscuits, which come individually packed in a packet of 5pcs, which we all grew up on. I still love those, which reminds me I should go get a packet of those soon. :D

Potato Chip Crunchies

Introducing my cookie number 4... doesn't the title just scream for attention? When I came across this recipe in my baking book, I was really intrigued by it. I've never heard of or tried cookies with potato chips in them. I had to do it at all cost, and thank goodness as well, since it was a very simple-to-do cookie.

Ingredients -(I only made half the recipe) this below is the full recipe.

2 cups butter, softened
1-1/2 cups sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
4 cups all purpose flour
1 cup crushed potato chips (I doubled this as I omitted the pecan nuts)
1 cup chopped pecans

Method -

1. In a large mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in egg & vanilla. Gradually add flour and mix well. Fold in the potato chips and pecans.

2. Drop by tablespoonfuls 1-1/2 inches apart onto ungreased baking sheets. Flatten with a fork. Bake at 175deg C for 12-14mins or until golden brown. Remove to wire racks and cool.

In the background are chocolate chip meringues which are a bonus bake. I made them the year before with crushed peppermint candy canes. That was my plan today but the candy canes weren't fresh and crunchy, thus I decided to not use them in case they messed up the meringues.

Ingredients for meringue-

2 egg whites
1/8 tsp salt
1/8 tsp cream of tartar
1/2 cup white sugar
2 peppermint candy canes, crushed. (I used mini chocolate chips just to make them look prettier)

Method -

1. Preheat oven to 110deg C. Line 2 cookie sheets with foil.

2. In a large glass or metal mixing bowl, beat egg whites, salt and cream of tartar to soft peaks. Gradually add sugar, continuing to beat until white stiff peaks form. Drop by spoonfuls 1inch apart on the prepared cookie sheets (I used a piping bag). Sprinkle crushed peppermint candy or chocolate chips over the cookies.

3. Bake for 1-1/2hrs in preheated oven. Meringues should be completely dry on the inside. Do not allow them to brown. Turn off oven. Keep oven door ajar, and let meringues sit in the oven till completely cool. Loosen from foil with metal spatula. Store loosely covered in cool dry place for up to 2months, if it's not gone before then. ;P

Loved the potato chips crunchies. They are excellent, and no, it's not because they contain the chips!

Christmas Sugar Cookies

I made a date with 2 girlfriends to make some cookies with the kids this holidays. We finally did it today, and what can be more fun than doing sugar cookies and letting them play with dough and decorate in any which way they liked. The kids had fun and I can't deny the adults did too, with all the fun royal icing pipers and fanciful topping that went on the top. We (adults) really had to get the creative juices flowing, but it was much easier for the kids. I think everyone did a great job!

I browsed for sugar or shortbread cookies online last evening, and found this one by Joy of Baking, for both the cookie as well as the frosting recipes. They were both excellent and I have to admit, way better than the ones we made last year. I guess I was just lucky I picked the right recipes this time. These recipes will stay with me for a long time. I love them that much!

Ingredients for sugar cookies -

1-3/4 cups (230gm) all purpose flour

1/8 tsp salt

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 cup (113gm) unsalted butter, room temperature

3/4 cup (150gm) granulated white sugar

1 large egg

1 tsp vanilla extract


Method -

1. Whisk together flour, baking powder & salt. Set aside.

2. Beat butter & sugar till light and fluffy (about 3-4 mins). Add eggs and vanilla extract and beat until combined. Add the flour mixture & beat until you have a smooth dough.

3. Divide the dough in half & put in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for an hour or until firm enough to roll. (I didn't divide dough, just simply put the entire bowl in the fridge).

4. Preheat oven to 177 deg C (350 deg F) and place rack in the centre of oven. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. (I didn't use parchment paper. Just put them direct on tray)

5. On a lightly floured surface, roll dough till a thickness of 1cm. Cut dough out using a lightly floured cookie cutter and transfer cut out shapes to a cookie tray. Put the tray of unbaked cookies in the refrigerator to chill a second time before baking. This is to prevent the dough from losing their shape whilst baking.

6. Bake cookies for about 10mins depending on their size, or until they turn a little brown around the edges. Remove from oven and let cookies cool down. Frost with royal icing if desired. Be sure to let royal icing dry completely before storing them. This may take a few hours.

Royal Icing recipe :

Ingredients -

1 large egg

1 tsp fresh lemon juice

1-1/2 cup (165gm) confectioner's (powdered or icing) sugar, sifted


Method -

In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat egg white with lemon juice. Add the sifted powdered sugar and beat on low speed until combined and smooth. The icing needs to be used immediately or stored in an airtight container as royal icing hardens when exposed to air. Cover with plastic wrap when not in use.

Note: I doubled both the cookie as well as icing recipes and cut down on the sugar for the cookie part. I find the cookie is still sweet so can cut down more to maybe 100gm for a single recipe? Try it out.

Buttery Spritz Cookies

I bought a tree-shaped icing tip last year but never got to use it. I only got it because it was too cute. Thus, I decided I should try out a spritz recipe this year.

Ingredients -

1 cup (227gm) butter, softened
1-1/4cup confectioner's sugar (you could cut it down to 1 cup)
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp almond extract (could be less as the almond flavour is very strong)
2-1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
Food colouring optional (I used red & green)
Coloured sugar and decorating candies, optional (I used hundreds and thousands)

Method -

1. In a large mixing bowl, cream butter and confectioner's sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the egg and extracts. Combine flour and salt. Gradually add to creamed mixture; mix well. Tint with food colouring if desired.

2. Using a cookie press (I used a pastry bag) fitted with the disc of your choice, press dough 2inches apart onto ungreased baking sheets. Decorate as desired.

3. Bake at 375 deg F ( I used 170 deg C) for 6-8mins (6mins was sufficient for me) or until set (do not brown). Remove to wire racks and cool.

The cookies were not too bad except that it took me a long time to complete the entire recipe as the icing tip was not big enough. But they turned out really pretty with the decor.

As per requested by Peony, here is a picture of the icing tip I have. It's pretty small thus it churns out really small cookies. Anyone knows if there is a bigger version of this? Please do let me know ya. This can be found at Phoon Huat bakery supplies store.

Cream Cheese Macadamia Nut Cookies

I decided to get started on some Christmas bakes today, seeing that Christmas is in a weeks' time. No more procrastinating or 'trying' to get into the baking mood. Once the mind is set, the task has to begin. I started off the day with a visit to Phoon Huat for some baking supplies. Ambitious me has 5 recipes that I want to try and a fruit cake as well. Let's see how far I'll go.

I made 2 recipes today. One of which was this particular recipe which got me a little excited with the words 'cream cheese'. I've never baked any cookies with cream cheese as an ingredient before, so I decided to give this a try, seeing that I had everything I needed for it.

My reference point for the recipes that I'm going to try out for the first time are from 'Taste of Home - Best Loved Cookies & Bars'.

Ingredients -

1/2 cup butter or 112.5gm, softened
1 package (80zs or 227gm) cream cheese, softened
3/4 cup packed brown sugar (no need to cut down as cookies turned out only slightly sweet)
4 tsps grated orange peel (I grated the peel of 1 orange)
2 tsps vanilla extract
1-1/2 cups all purpose flour
2 tsps baking powder
3/4 cup chopped macadamia nuts or almonds
3/4 cup chocolate chips (I added on my own)

Method -

1. In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter, cream cheese, brown sugar, orange peel & vanilla.

2. Combine flour and baking powder. Gradually add to the creamed mixture; mix well. Fold in nuts. Cover and refrigerate for 1 hour or until firm.

3. Drop by rounded teaspoons 2inches apart onto ungreased baking sheets with a greased glass. (I used my hands to roll them into balls and flattened them a little on the top).

4. Bake at 200 deg C (I used 180 deg C) for 9-11mins or until lightly browned. Remove to wire racks to cool.

Notes - This is a good recipe for those who are allergic to eggs. The result was a cake-like cookie.

Point to add - The cookies didn't turn out sweet at all, and they are ok by my standard, but some might not like it. That's the reason I added the chocolate chips, to add sweetness to them, but it gave me a pleasant surprise instead, by bringing out the flavour of the orange which complimented the chocolate chips very well. Without the chocolate chips, the cookies were ok but you couldn't really taste the orange peel.

Cinnamoroll & Mocha cookies

Can't believe I forgot to blog about these. Over the Teachers' Day period, a friend of mine posted some pictures of the cookies that she baked for her sons' teachers and one of them was a cutout cookie & I was keen to try out that recipe. She got it from Florence's blog. I used that for the Cinnamoroll cookies and a different one for the Mocha cookies. On the back of some of the Cinnamoroll ones, I stamped the words 'Happy b'day' for a girlfriend of mine who is as crazy over the character as my girl & I are. I decided to make some My Melody ones too. Very happy with how they all turned out :D And absolutely love the pink polka-dotted cover on the bottle.

Happy Valentine's Day

A very Happy Valentine's Day to all. I baked some cutout biscuits yesterday using my new Cinnamoroll & My Melody cookie cutters. However, I won't be posting the recipe here as I wasn't too pleased with the result of the dough. It was too soft to handle and really tough just putting these few pieces together. Have to hunt down a good cutout cookie recipe.. Do you have one to recommend? :)

Yesterday was hubby's birthday, so we went for an early lunch before sending little one to school. Since she was having a proper lunch, I decided to just give her some cookies and fruits for her snack. Bought 2 punnets of blueberries at $4plus for 2 at NTUC.

Petits Beurres

Ever since I got my personalized cookie cutter set, I've been wanting to make use of it. Tartelette had posted about hers and how she couldn't find a petits beurre recipe that came close to the original, so she makes use of a shortbread recipe instead. For me, I have never tasted one but I decided to try out chocolate and zucchini's recipe. And I love it! Except that it was on the salty side. Is it suppose to taste salty? I have no idea. Maybe someone can enlighten me. But for my own preference, I would half the amount of salt to 1/2tsp.

Peanut Butter Sandies

Whilst browsing through the blogs, I came across Maya's Peanut Butter Sandies which originated at Ovenhaven's blog. How is a girl to resist a very simple 3-ingredient biscuit which takes so little to put together? I had a half bottle of creamy peanut butter, plus just enough brown sugar to finish up and what better way to use them than in a yummy biscuit recipe.

The result was melt in your mouth yummy goodness. My biscuits didn't turn out as pretty as those the girls made as I did not have enough peanut butter to bind them together. Nonetheless they were great. I would cut down a bit on the sugar though. I found them a little sweet.

Note - Once cooled, the biscuits were not so melt in the mouth, but that could be because I cut down on the peanut butter? In any case, they are still good.

Slice & bake biscuits

I was looking around for a lemon poppyseed recipe and came across this one. I didn't really want a muffin type to bake the seeds with, so after going through the countless recipes out there, I decided to try this biscuit out. It's very versatile and has a lovely texture. It's not for those who love their biscuits crispy though. But it is lovely. I divided the dough in half and added chocolate chips. They were made for a special friend. :)

Chocolate Mint Cookies

In case you haven't noticed, I have not baked sweet stuff in quite a while, since the Chinese New Year. We did have some ant problem and hubby banned baking. So that's why you saw more food being cooked. However, I've been wanting to bake something sweet and so decided to make these cookies. The recipe come from a magazine that I got free at the MRT station one morning, sometime before Valentine's Day. I loved that it had mint in it. I would never have thought of adding mint to chocolate cookies. Hmm... That is kind of silly, considering how well mint and chocolate go together.

This is a soft cookie and I added something a little extra in the middle, sort of as a surprise, but also, I thought the cookie needed something more. Plain is ok, but not that great. Well, I kind of deviated from the original recipe a bit.

Chocolate Mint Cookies (Makes 36 cookies, but am very sure mine had more)

Ingredients -

3/4 cup butter
1-1/2 cups packed brown sugar
2 tbsp water
2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips (I used chocolate block 70% cocoa)
2 eggs
2-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1-1/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
36 chocolate mint sweets (I didn't use these. Instead I used block Cadbury chocolates, not mint, and broke them into squares to put inside each cookie)
** I used about 1/2 tsp mint essence in the dough mixture as I did not use mint chocolates for the topping.

Method -

1. In a large pan, over low heat, melt butter, sugar & water until butter is melted. Add chocolate chips and stir until partially melted. Remove from heat & continue to stir until chocolate is completely melted. Pour into a large bowl and let stand for 10mins to cool off slightly.

2. At high speed, beat in eggs, one at a time into chocolate mixture. Add essence. Reduce speed to low & add in dry ingredients, beating until blended. Chill dough about an hour.

3. Preheat oven to 175 deg C (350deg F).

4. Roll dough into balls with a piece of chocolate square in the middle & place on ungreased cookie sheet about 2 inches apart. Bake 10 - 15mins.

For original recipe, do this -

Do not add chocolate squares to the middle. While cookies are baking, unwrap mints and divide each in half. When cookies are out of the oven, put 1/2 mint on top of each cookie. Let the mint sit for up to 5 mins until melted, then spread the mint on top of cookies and enjoy!

Shaped cookies

What an exhausting day it has been. Was out since 11plus this morning. Princess didn't go school as was coughing all night so wanted her to sleep in this morning. Unfortunately she woke up at 7am! There goes my sleep. Haha. So arranged to meet Sam for lunch to cheer her up a little, as she's just started working this week and feeling a bit lost. Had lunch at Food Republic in Vivo, and G managed to get there in time to join us after sending her older girl off to school. It was all a little too short and we only had time to eat, and not much else. However, G and I shopped a little before we went our separate ways.

All in all, was out pretty much the whole day as had swimming lessons after that, so am actually pretty knackered, but just want to relax a little by blogging while my cookies are cooling down.


Made the cookie dough yesterday but had many things to see to as well, so left it till today to bake. Got the recipe from a kiddy cookbook which a friend had given me a while back. I've never baked shaped cookies before so this is my first time. Divided dough into half, one of which I added chocolate sprinkles and the other has dried cherries. Will do the cherry one tomorrow.

They turned out quite nice. I had halved the sugar and added some quaker instant oats in. They are only slightly sweet which is great. It was pretty addictive I must say. ;)

Oh, this I must share... For dinner tonight I had instant noodles. Hands up those of you who love real spicy food, as well as instant noodles. Well, I discovered this gem today. I'm very particular about noodles and am partial towards Indomie Mee Goreng. However I am a convert to this Myojo Singapore Sambal. It's funny though that they call it that as sambal is not native to Singapore. Haha. Believe me, this is very good. What was missing for me was the fishballs. It tastes like the mee pok you get at fishball noodle stalls. So if you want to get that taste, add some fishballs. It was truly spicy which is very shiok as I find that usually in instant noodles, the chilli is toned down. So give it a try.