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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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Easy Apple Crumble with Custard and Blueberry Compote

Chris-budgetpantry — Sat, 07 Jun 2014 17:26:05 +0000

Ok, this is insane.

The apple crumble that I baked at 1pm Saturday ? It is STILL INCREDIBLY CRUNCHY now at 1am Sunday. I’ll admit it. I kinda knew I would foil the “diet” plan when I decided to bake this today. But I convinced myself with, “怎样？吃水果是没有错的嘛，对吗？” (“What? There’s nothing wrong in eating fruits right?”) And thankfully so, because I just made the best dessert I have ever made, and I have made quite a few desserts.

It all started one fateful day when I inherited lots and lots of apples. I’m not quite the apple-in-its-purest-form fan, but do I love apple pie. I don’t like making pie crusts though, and so I thought, “Apple Crumble” will be it. How difficult can it be? Just cook some apples and raisins in sugar and cinnamon, then top it with a buttery crumble before baking it til the topping is cooked. And I was right! How easy this really is!

The next thing was to think of what else to make to go along with the crumble. I mean, I couldn’t possibly just make the crumble and photograph it naked, could I? I wouldn’t do it justice. And what always, always goes with apple crumble? Custard, that’s what! I also decided to use up the blueberries in my fridge, all 2 and a half boxes of it, to make a blueberry compote to go along with my “healthy” dessert. Might as well. More fruits, healthier right?

I used quite a lot of large apples for this recipe. A total of 8 200g-220g apples, more than 1.5kg. Yes, there are 8 large apples in the baking dish above. Sounds like a lot, isn’t really too much. This makes about 6 generous servings, and trust me, you’d rather make more than less because NO ONE will stop at one serving.

I cooked the apples til just slightly soft instead of baking them directly in the oven. This way, I can be sure the filling’s gonna be cooked just right and not too hard. I didn’t want my crumble to brown (or worse, burn) before the apples were even soft. I also used brown sugar for better flavour and have you heard? The combination of “Apples + brown sugar + cinnamon” is the only scenario where 3’s not a crowd but a match made in Heaven.

If there’s ONE baking recipe you wanna try from budgetpantry, it’s gotta be THIS! Can you believe it? Still crunchy after 15 hours? These apples died a worthy death. And yes, you can airfry if you want a smaller portion (are you serious?). Just use a smaller baking dish that will fit.

Easy Apple Crumble with Custard and Blueberry Compote
Makes: 6 generous servings
Total cost per serving: $1.47 (with blueberry compote and custard) or less than $0.50 without the frills

What I used:
For the apple filling:
8 large apples (about 200-220g each), peeled and sliced not too thinly
1 teaspoon cinnamon
5 tablespoons brown sugar
5 tablespoons raisins (optional)
1 tablespoon water
Cornstarch solution (1 teaspoon cornstarch mixed with 2.5 teaspoons water)

For the crumble topping
180g plain flour
120g caster sugar
100g cold butter, cubed

For the blueberry compote:
250g fresh blueberries
1 tablespoon caster sugar
1 tablespoon lemon juice (optional)

For the custard:
2 tablespoons custard powder
1.5 tablespoon caster sugar
570ml milk

Steps:
1. Preheat oven to 180C or if using Airfryer, 160C.
2. Prepare the filling: Combined apples, raisins, cinnamon, brown sugar and water in a large pan over medium heat. Cook covered for about 10 minutes til apples are soft. Add in the cornstarch solution and off the flame when the mixture becomes slightly thick. Arrange in 3-4 layers in a baking dish.

3. Prepare the crumble topping: In a large bowl or mixing bowl, combine the flour (no need to sift) and sugar with a fork or whisk. Rub in the cubed butter with your fingertips til the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Spoon on top of filling and bake for 30 minutes or until the crumble is crisp and slightly brown.

4. In the meantime, prepare the blueberry compote: In a small pot, combine blueberries, sugar and lemon juice and cook for about 5 minutes under low heat til the blueberries have slightly burst and the compote starts coming together. Set aside.
5. Prepare the custard according to package instructions.
6. When the apple crumble is done, spoon a portion into a bowl and top with warm custard + a spoonful of blueberry compote.
7. Thank me later! And you’re always welcome :)

How much I spent:
The apples were free
$5 for blueberries
$1.60 for butter (I got my SCS unsalted butter for $3.90 on promotion)
$1.50 for custard powder (which can last you forever)
$0.70 for milk
Everything else from my pantry

The post Easy Apple Crumble with Custard and Blueberry Compote appeared first on Budgetpantry | Singapore Mummy Blog on Food, Recipe & Baby.

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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