Coconut Butter Cookies

Lately, I have been reading articles on coconut, in particular, coconut milk, coconut cream and even their complementary products like coconut cream powder. And then I was thinking, hey, is this a new superfood as they called it? I realised that it is true.

 

Honestly, I have my misgivings about coconut since from young, I was taught that we can eat food with coconut but not too much because of the cholestrol 'benefits' it would give us. So when I read those articles, I was shocked and keep going like NOooooo no way....but as I read more and learn more about coconut, I realised that it is not as what we think.

 

I think the most common reason I understand about people avoiding coconut like plague would be because of its high saturated fat content especially when it's used in curries, desserts and cakes especially for those people who want to lose weight.

 

Oddly enough, do you know that coconut cream contains good saturated fat that improves your health and encourages weight loss as your body easily converts it to energy the moment it is absorbed? This is similar to how your body reacts when it absorbs carbohydrates.

 

Literally, that also means despite what you believe about the saturated fat that exists in coconut cream, it does not increases your bad cholestrol level that clogs up your arteries and triggers heart attacks and causes stroke. The most important thing is, it doesn't causes you to gain weight as easily as what you perceived it to be.

 

In fact, researchers and scientists have found the lauric acid content in breast milk to be present in coconut cream as well. Did you know that this content aids you in fighting viruses, bacteria, promote normal  brain development and contributes to healthy bones as well as the fact that it also has anti-carcinogenic and anti-pathogenic properties that keep cancer far away? Having said all the above, would you still believe that coconut is bad for you?

But please don't start indulging yourself in coconut cream daily. This should be the same for all health food. When you eat too much of a health food, you will still be piling on extra calories and gain weight as a result. So hence, it is better to eat wisely by consuming everything in moderation in order to reap health benefits without getting its disadvantages.

 

Enough talk about coconut cream. I think you should be quite ready to check out this easy peasy cookie recipe that uses coconut cream powder :)

 

The recipe is from 孟老師的100道手工餅乾 and it was through Wen's Delight that I saw it. See my modifications or comments in blue.

 

Ingredients:

75g unsalted butter (softened) I used Golden Churn, you may use a butter that has very strong buttery fragrance like SCS butter.
50g icing sugar
1/4 tsp vanilla essence100g top flour I used cake flour
10g cornflour
20g coconut cream powder You can find this in big, flat sachets in the local supermarkets. I used the Kara brand.

 

Method:

 

Method:

1. Preheat oven at 160 degrees celsius.
2. Sieve top cake flour, corn flour and coconut cream powder together and set aside.
3. Use an electric handheld mixer to beat the softened butter, icing sugar and vanilla essence till light and creamy.
4. Add in sifted flour into (2), use a spatula to fold in the flour and mix into a soft dough. It doesn't matter if you add the sifted flours to (2) or you add (2) to sifted flours.
5. Wrap the dough with cling wrap and chill for 30mins. I blast freeze the dough in the freezer for about 10 minutes and it worked.
6. Weigh and shape the dough into 12g balls.
7. Bake in preheated oven for 25 mins 14 minutes (this works for my oven but please use the usual baking time for cookies for your oven), turn off heat and leave the cookies in the oven for another 10 mins.
8. Remove from oven to cool it on a rack.

You wouldn't believe how my kitchen and literally whole house was scented with the perfume of the coconut cream powder. It's wonderful considering the fact that I've only used 20g of the powder. I think the next time I bake this, I would shorten the baking time by not leaving it in the oven for another 10 minutes. Nevertheless, the cookies are pretty fragrant and have a slight buttery taste. I would definitely use SCS butter next time I bake this for more buttery taste :)

 

 

 I'm submitting this post to Cook-Your-Books #11 organized by Joyce of baking flavours.

 

 

I'm also submitting this post to The Biscuit Barrel organized by Laura of I'd much rather baked than...

 

 

Chunky Lola Cookies

Whoever is Lola, you would probably ask? It was also one of the questions I had when I first saw this recipe from Flour. It was definitely a name given in cheek in place of these pantry cookies. Chunky Lola is one of Boston's Flour Bakery's bestseller cookies and surprisingly, you would note that its combination of some random ingredients make you think if they would all go together. Surprisingly, they do. So what are you waiting for if you want to clear your pantry? See my modifications in blue.

Ingredients:

• 156g unsalted butter, softened
• 140g 80g granulated sugar
• 150g 100g brown sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 large eggs
• 175g all purpose flour
• 70g rolled oats
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 255g bittersweet chocolate, roughly chopped
• 125g pecans, toasted and roughly chopped
• 120g sweetened shredded coconut (I used dessicated coconut)
• 112g pitted dates, roughly chopped (optional)

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F 170 degrees celsius.  
2. Using a stand or hand-held mixer, cream together the butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Add the vanilla and eggs and mix an additional 2 to 3 minutes until well combined.  
3. In a separate bowl, combine the flour, oats, baking soda, salt, chocolate, pecans, coconut, and dates.  
4. On low speed, slowly add the flour mixture to the butter mixture and mix until the dry ingredients are completely incorporated and the dough is evenly mixed. 
5. Line sheet pans with parchment paper or silpats.  Drop rounded tablespoons of dough (Flour suggest about 1/4 cup per cookie, which makes quite big cookies) onto the prepared sheets, spacing them about 2 inches apart.  Bake 12-15 minutes (more for larger cookies) or until golden around the edges and slightly soft in the center.
6. The cookies keep well 2-3 days wrapped at room temperature.

My tips:

• Keep dough batter in the refrigerator for 1 to 3 days before baking. This brings out the flavour in the cookie dough as well as allow the sugars in the dough to crystallise, hence giving the cookies a richer flavour.
• Alternatively, scoop the cookie dough onto baking sheets or square pans and place them in the freezer for about 10 to 15 mins to allow to harden. Once they are hardened, you can keep them into freezer bags so you can bake whenever your cravings start acting up ;)

Mr G was walking in and out of the kitchen whilst I was doing Chunky Lola. When I was done preparing the batter, I told him I made Chunky Lola with some interesting ingredients. He was like yeah, I noticed the coconut and the oatmeal. They all look really grainy together. I wonder how they taste like. Haha soon, Mr G. Patience will reward you ;)

Don't you just love the oozing chocolate from the chocolate chips? Yes that is the exact perfect reason for me not to use mini chocolate chips anymore. I need them to GO BIG!!! I just love the taste of the oozing chocolate.

This post is linked to the event, Little Thumbs up organised by Zoe from Bake for Happy Kids and Doreen from My Little Favourite DIY, hosted by Vivian of Vivian Pang’s Kitchen.

I'm also submitting this post to Cook-Your-Books#6 organized by Joyce of Kitchenflavours.

I'm also submitting this post to The Biscuit Barrel by I'd Much Rather Bake Than...

Cocoa Tuiles

It's been a long long while since I last joined the Bake Along. I have meant to join in the past few Bake Along(s) but didn't manage to join in time. Never mind, today is an exception :)

When I saw the topic 'Tuiles', it got me intrigued. I remember seeing tuiles in this Parisian cafe before. That was really long ago. Come to think of it, I feel pretty bummed about not even trying those tuiles. As you can see where this is coming already, it is definitely my first time baking tuiles.

Tuiles are pronounced as 'tweel'. Note that the 's' is silent. Yes, indeed it is very French ;P According to Alice Medrich, these tuiles is a quintessential cookie experience in a world of its own - ultrathin, elegant, addictive, very flavourful and infinitely flexible once you get the hang of them. You can even roll them into little cigarettes or shaped as tiny ice cream cones for a fancy party.

An important point to note is timing of the bake. Remember these cookies are ultrathin so you need to be very careful with the timing that you bake them so they don't burn.

This recipe is from Alice Medrich's Chewy Gooey Crispy Crunchy Melt-in-your-mouth cookies.

Ingredients:

56g butter, melted and still very warm
112g caster sugar
29g cocoa powder, sieved after measuring
1/8 tsp salt
2 large egg whites
10g plain flour

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 170 degrees celsius. 
2. Cover baking sheet with aluminium foil and smoothen it to remove any wrinkles.
3. Grease the aluminium foil with baking spray and use a brush to ensure that the baking spray is spread evenly throughout the baking sheet.
4. In a small bowl, whisk together the melted butter, sugar, cocoa and salt.
5. Whisk in the egg whites.
6. Add the flour and whisk fold in only until combined.
7. Let rest for at least 10 minutes or cover and refrigerate for up to 3 days. I refrigerated the batter for about a day.
8. Allow batter to return to room temperature.
9. Drop level teaspoons of the batter about 3 inches apart onto cookie sheets.
10. Using a small offset spatula or the back of a spoon and in a circular motion, spread the batter evenly into 3-inch rounds or ovals or other shapes to about 1/16 inch thick.
11. Bake (watch it carefully) for about 1o to 12 minutes (I used 9 minutes only) until the edges are slightly darker than the rest of the cookie.
12. Shape and roll your cookies while hot from oven and be gentle with them. To retain the crispness, put the cookies in an airtight container once they are cool. They can keep for at least 1 month. Trust me, it won't be a week before they are gone ;)

After much 'coercing', I managed to grasp the technique of trying the curve the cookie like potato chips. The trick here is to do it fast. With an injured finger already, trying to curl the hot cookie can be pretty daunting. But nevertheless, I still managed to roll the cookies over a rolling pin but only a few managed to be curved. The rest just broke with a loud crisp CRACK!! Erm, epic fail right? Haha Those that broke ended up in my mouth anyway ;P

To be honest, the tuiles tasted so good that they were truly very addictive! One is just not enough and before you know it, you'll probably had more than 3 in your tummy. Alice Medrich, your cocoa tuiles is definitely genius!!

Can you literally see how ultrathin these beauties are? I love them and the crackling sounds they make when you bite into them.

I'm submitting this post to Bake Along #54 organized by Joyce, Lena and Zoe.

I'm also submitting this post to We Should Cocoa #39 hosted by Rebecca of BakeNQuilt.com for this month and organized by Choclette of Chocolate Log Book.

I'm also submitting this post to The Biscuit Barrel by I'd Much Rather Bake Than...