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CNY Bakes: Cranberry Cornflake Cookies

Chris-budgetpantry — Sun, 17 Jan 2016 05:22:18 +0000

Are you one of the lucky ones whose mom or grandma get into baking a frenzy every Chinese New Year?

I’m officially jealous! Although my aunt is a superb cook, I’ve never seen her bake in my life. The only time she uses the oven is when she wants to roast a chicken or when she wants to toast bread.. but she now toasts bread in my airfryer and doesn’t roast chickens anymore.. so hmmm. My mom is a super baker but she’s not very hardworking, so I’ve never learnt to make pineapple tarts, kueh bangkit, green pea cookies or love letters.

BUT! COOKIES! Cookies are easy enough to bake, so this year, I decided to make Cranberry Cornflake Cookies for Chinese New Year. My new year’s resolution is to learn allllll the recipes for CNY goodies, so that my future daughter (or son) can live their childhood in the kitchen the way I never did.

Remember to let the cookies cool before storing or eating! The cornflakes will be a little chewy right out of the oven but they will regain their crispiness once cooled. Be patient! For variation, add white chocolate chips or semi-sweet chocolate chips instead of cornflakes. I was itching to make a white chocolate cranberry version (very Christmasy!) but finally settled on cornflakes cos it is Chinese New Year. Enjoy the snacking and watch the waist line!

Note: This cookie recipe calls for icing and caster sugar as it needs them to dissolve quickly in the relatively short baking time. Don’t substitute with regular or fine sugar for best results. SCS butter, extra fine icing sugar, eggs, flour and cornflakes sponsored by PurelyFresh. Remember to get your baking goodies from there this CNY!

Cranberry Cornflake Cookies
Makes approximately 45 cookies
Total cost: $5.67

What I used:
125g butter, left at room temperature
50g icing sugar
50g extra fine caster sugar
1 egg, lightly beaten
150g top flour (you can use plain flour)
20g corn flour
80g dried cranberries
50g cornflakes and more to coat/ roll cookie in
Half teaspoon vanilla essence
Half teaspoon salt

Steps:
1. Preheat oven to 140 degrees celsius.
2. Empty cornflakes in a ziplock bag and crush coarsely. Set aside for later use.

3. Cut cranberries into smaller pieces with a pair of scissors. Set aside for later use.

4. In a large mixing bowl, add cubed butter, icing sugar, caster sugar and beat til pale and creamy. I simply used a wooden spoon but please use your electric whisk or beater if you can.

5. Slowly add half the egg and stir til combined before adding the other half. Add the vanilla essence.

6. Add sifted top flour, corn flour and salt and mix well to combine.

You should get a doughy paste like so:

7. Stir in the cranberries and 50g crushed cornflakes. So pretty! (remember to add the crushed cornflakes too! I forgot the picture!)

8. Take a small ball of cookie dough and roll it haphazardly (haha!) in a separate portion of crushed cornflakes.

9. Line your cookie sheet with baking paper and bake or 20 minutes or til lightly browned.

How much I spent:
$1.90 for cranberries (I bought a 500g pack for $12)
$2 for butter (I used half a block of SCS butter)
$0.42 for flour
$1.10 for cornflakes
$0.25 for egg
Everything else from my pantry

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CNY Bakes: Crumbly All-Butter German Cookies

Chris-budgetpantry — Sun, 26 Jan 2014 14:04:49 +0000

I’m actually pretty excited this Chinese New Year because my baking has been turning out exceptionally well! I loved the cornflake cookies that I did last week.. 88 loved them even more. The two large bottles were gone in a matter of days. Ah-mm managed to get her hands on a grand total of 2 pieces, Jason probably had 1 or 2, and the rest went right into 88’s tummy. And after polishing off those cookies, she came to me and said she really can’t eat so much cookies at a go but then asked me to bake somemore?

I have a very strange aunt.

Anyway. I decided to try and bake something new today! I’ve always wondered what gives a cookie its crumbly texture.. I did some quick research and read that I gotta to use potato starch and icing sugar to achieve that effect. I got a packet of Pagoda brand potato starch from NTUC at West Gate (yes, I am a “westerner”) and got down to business. I used top flour for this recipe. You can use Hong Kong flour or plain flour. Remember not to over bake them. You can actually remove them from the oven before they turn brown (after about 15 minutes in a preheated 170 degree oven).

I am in love with their snowy white appearance.. these babies look absolutely, quietly beautiful. Do savour them slowly.. they deserve to be appreciated.

Crumbly All-Butter German Cookies
Makes approximately 40-45 cookies

What I used:
125g butter, left to soften at room temperature
50g icing sugar, sifted
90g top flour, sifted
100g potato starch, sifted
Raisins, cut into small pieces (optional)
Meat Floss (optional)
Desiccated coconut (optional)

Steps:
1. Preheat oven to 170 degrees celsius.

2. In a large mixing bowl, sift icing sugar over butter and beat til pale and fluffy with an electric beater, about 2 minutes.

3. Sift in top flour and potato starch. It is ok to sift both together instead of separately. Using a spatula, mix well til a soft, loose dough forms. If using raisins, coconut or meatfloss, add them in now.

4. Line your baking pan with parchment paper. Shape each portion into 1.5-2cm balls with your fingertips and space out each ball evenly on your baking pan.

5. Have a bowl of water ready. Dip your fork into the water and use it to flatten the balls slightly while creating a pattern. After each indentation, dip the fork into the bowl of water again so the dough does not stick to it.

6. Bake at 170 degrees for 15 minutes. The cookies will remain snowy white in colour! Cool completely before eating. They’re a mess to eat when hot and you’ll think they’re under-baked. I promise you they will be crunchy when cool!

I also did a coconut and meat floss version, both of which were very pretty to look at but I gotta to admit the meat floss one tasted a bit strange. I didn’t think it went well with the crumbly texture of the cookie and it was a little sweeter than I would have liked. Jason liked it though. Strange man. I think meat floss will go well with regular cookie batter, like the one used in my cornflake cookies. Remember to reduce the sugar if you’re using floss as it can be quite sweet.

I hope you have fun experimenting this festive season. I sure am having a great time!

The aftermath of my 4 hours in the kitchen today:

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