Almost Famous Amos Cookies

The secret is now revealed, the famous amos cookies are here to impress, and dressed up to the nines, they will blow your mind away...

I have tried and tested several cookie recipes, and while they truly impressed me, they fail to leave me speechless. This one does it....

What can I say, but I am beyond speechless...:))

So here yea your famous amos cookies, well... your almost famous amos cookies that is.

*Snagged from http://www.bisousatoi.com

Ingredients
250g salted butter,softened
200g light brown sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp coffee oil or coffee paste
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 cup oats,processed to bits in a chopper
1/4 cup ground almonds
1/2 cup of your favourite nuts (hazelnuts) ,chopped finely
1 pack of semi-sweet chocolate chips OR chocolate chunks (don't use cheap chocolate chips,the flavour is compromised)
300g self-raising flour

Method
This is the most important step,at least 2 hours before,or the night before,beat the egg with the vanilla and the coffee oil to infuse or you can do this the night before,refrigerate it then bring it to room temperature before baking.

Preheat oven to 160C.

To the softened butter,beat in the sugar and the salt to combine. Beat in the egg and stir in the processed oats,ground almonds,optional chopped nuts and the chocolate chunks. Sift the flour and fold it in,this dough will not be too stiff but not too wet either.

For small cookies,place half-tsp of the dough,spaced slightly apart on the cookie sheet and bake for 9 to 10 minutes (I cooked mine for 12 minutes).

For large cookies, place rounded tbsp of the dough spaced apart on the cookie sheet and bake for 20 to 22 minutes.

Cool completely and let it sit overnight in an airtight container,this is for the flavour and fragrance to develop further.
Eat one freshly made and one the day after,there is a difference!

Dolce and Gabbana Brownies

"Life is not measured by the breaths we take; But by the moments that take our breath away"

I was saving to make these brownies for a special occasion, but I reckon spending a lazy Sunday with my little boy is a special occasion in itself, so bake out loud I did. 

We buy random things hoping to use them during special occasions; things we don't inherently need but because they are on sale, perhaps they will come handy...someday. We postpone realising our dream, thinking that the right time will come...someday. We are afraid to take risk because the universe out there is virtually unknown, too afraid to lose ourselves if we take the chance. We are too scared to take a leap of faith because extrapolation in normal distribution means a skew in the graph. :)) We have special things for special occasions, obviously we seldom use them because special occasion by virtue of its essential definition means rare or rarity. I am no exception, Im part of the normal distribution. But one thing is for sure, in my scheme of things, I try to level up my playing field a little bit and count my loose coins, ergo, upping my ante. 

These brownies are upping my ante...without trying to lose myself in effect. Lol! The swirl of chocolates and the spread of hazelnut are luxury and a pretence that these are too hard to make. Make no mistake, the core is still brownies, amidst the swirls and the spreads. We are not trying to change the core of what this is, we are just spreading our wings and well, you know now, upping the ante. 

Cafe Fernando made these brownies for Dolce and Gabbana's digital magazine, hence the name. But if you take away the name "Dolce and Gabbana then it is simply 32 inches of gooey-ful goodness of brownies with hazelnut spread and chocolate lace. And hey, they are ridiculously delicious!

Adapted from www.cafefernando.com

Ingredients

For Brownies:

10.5 ounces (300 grams) bittersweet (%70 cacao) chocolate, chopped

2/3 cup (10 tablespoons/150 grams) unsalted butter, plus more for pan

3/4 cup (105 grams) all-purpose flour

1/2 cup (35 grams) Dutch-process cocoa powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1+1/2 cup (300 grams) granulated sugar

5 large eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

For Hazelnut Butter Frosting:

1 14-ounce (400 grams) jar smooth hazelnut butter

For Chocolate Lace Decoration:

4.5 ounces (150 grams) bittersweet (%70 cacao) chocolate, chopped

Method

To make the brownies, adjust the oven rack to the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 350°F/175°C. Butter a 9-by-13-inch rectangular cake pan, line bottom and sides with parchment paper and set aside.

Place the chopped chocolate and butter in the top of a double boiler set over hot water and allow to melt slowly, stirring often. Set aside to cool for 10 minutes.

Sift together the flour, cocoa, and salt into a medium bowl and set aside.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, whisk eggs and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the cooled chocolate followed by the vanilla extract, and whisk until combined. Fold in the flour and cocoa mixture with a spatula. Pour the mixture into the baking pan, smooth the top with a spatula and bake for 30 minutes.

Allow to cool in the pan for a few minutes, then turn out and leave to cool completely on a wire rack. Trim the top crust and half-an-inch from each side and place in the refrigerator until chilled, for about 30 minutes.

To make the hazelnut butter frosting, place the hazelnut butter in a small pot over low heat and stir until it is runny. Pour over cooled brownie, smooth the top with a spatula, place the frosted brownies in the refrigerator and chill completely, for about an hour.

To make the chocolate lace decoration, place the chopped chocolate in the top of a double boiler set over hot water and allow to melt slowly, stirring often. Set aside to cool for 10 minutes.

Place a 16-inch-long parchment paper on your work surface. Draw an 8-by-12 inch rectangular with a pencil, turn the other side and place it on a baking tray. Pour the melted chocolate into a piping bag fitted with the smallest (about 1 milimeter) plain tip and pipe the lace decoration the size of your brownie. Place the baking tray together with a large offset spatula in the refrigerator and wait until the chocolate is set, for about an hour.

Transfer the brownie on your serving plate. Remove the chocolate decoration from the refrigerator and with the help of a large chilled offset spatula go underneath the decoration, pick it up and place it on the brownie. Heat the blade of a large knife with a heat gun or stick it in a cup of hot water for a few minutes and then wipe off the water (heating the blade helps with cutting through the chocolate decoration without breaking it into pieces), cut the brownie into 12 identical squares and serve.

Mohnstrudel

There was a time in my baking life, when I did nothing but bake those cake and pastry rolls, I was getting so excited when I see filling of sweet goodness twirling within a fluffy bed of flour and yeast, spinning like a wheel in motion, and white and other (rainbow) colours in kaleidoscope. My poor little boy, he was subjected to taste test in epic proportions. Lol! Mohnstrudel is an Austrian staple and just to be able to bake it, is like getting a few steps closer to my ultimate dream of baking a variety of danish pastries. It may seem a herculean task at the moment, but I will eventually get there.  Sooner or later, I need to muster such indefatigable courage. But I have faith in my heart and infinite possibilities are born of faith, after all. For the meantime, Mohnstrudel will do. And baking Mohnstrudel is no Monster-del task either. Its very easy and anyone can enjoy baking it as much as I did and still do. 

Ingredients

660g Flour (preferably class AA flour)

250g Butter 

60g sugar

7g of instant yeast

pinch of salt

250ml milk

Filling

400 ml Water

180g Sugar

20g Butter

400g ground Nuts (almonds, hazelnuts)

120g Breadcrumbs

80g Raisins

Lemon Peel

Method

1. Crumble the salted flour and the butter (I used my finger tips and mix them until the flour becomes grainy). Knead together with sugar, yeast & milk into a smooth dough (I kneaded mine for at least 8 minutes) and then proof for an hour or until double in size.

2. In the meantime prepare the filling. Bring to boil Water, Butter and sugar. Mix in remaining ingredients to a smooth texture. Let it cool. Divide dough into 3 parts and then roll out each part into a rectangle. Layer with filling and roll.

3. Glaze with eggyolk and poke 20 times with a fork.

4. Bake at 150-170deg for 30mins.

* If you are too tired to do the filling preparations or did not have enough filling for your dough, you can substitute it with nutella spread, trust me its as good as the mohnstrudel filling, or even better.

My favorite Brownies

I dont know about you, but this is my favourite brownies recipe, thus far. I have made these brownies countless times for countless friends and loved ones and they have nothing but oohs and aaahs about  them. In fact the photos posted here are from my latest bake. 

I have tried and tested more than three (3) different recipes but this one always takes the cake, eerm, brownies! :)) I keep coming back to it. At the end of the day, I'd rather be with the best.

I know some of you have recipes bequeathed by your mothers and grandmothers but it wouldn't hurt to include this recipe into your repertoire of sweets recipes. 

*Inspired by http://cafefernando.com/hazelnut-brownies/

Ingredients

10 oz bittersweet chocolate, chopped

1 stick (1/2 cup) of butter

1 cup sugar

1+1/2 cups (8 oz) hazelnuts, blanched & toasted (divided)

3 eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/4 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 tsp salt

6 ounces (170 grams) milk (%40 cacao) chocolate, chopped
1/4 cup pistachios, slivered

Method

Center a rack in the oven and preheat your oven to 350F.

Line bottom and sides of a 9-inch square pan with parchment paper and set aside.

Place one cup of the toasted hazelnuts into a food processor and process until finely ground.

Chop the rest of the hazelnuts roughly.

Melt butter and chocolate in a bowl over simmering water and let cool for 5 minutes.

Add sugar and whisk until combined.

Add the eggs, one at a time, and whisk until combined.

Stir in the vanilla extract.

Fold in flour, ground hazelnuts (1 cup) and salt into the batter.

Fold in roughly chopped hazelnuts (1/2 cup) into the batter.

Pour the mixture into the baking pan, smooth the top with a spatula and bake for 35 minutes.

Let cool to room temperature.

Cut into squares

Melt the milk chocolate in a bowl over simmering water. Let cool for 5 minutes and pour over cooled brownie.
Smooth the top with a spatula and sprinkle with pistachios.
Place in the refrigerator and let the milk chocolate set. Serve it cold.