Mud Cake Cookie Sandwiches
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I miss a great KBB challenge last time, so I had to catch up this time… If you “like” chocolate (I know most of you are addicted just like me) then this is your ultimate chocolate cookie sandwiches. Just beware, it’s so heavy that you might have to skip your next meal.
Mud Cake Cookie Sandwiches
Makes 24
- Preheat oven to 170C/150C fan-forced. Grease two 20cm x 30cm lamington pans; line with a strip of baking paper, extending paper 2cm above edges of pans.
- Make chocolate mud cake.
- Make chocolate ganache.
- Beat butter, sugar and eggs in small bowl with electric mixer until combined. Transfer mixture to large bowl; stir in sifted flours and cocoa, in two batches. Knead dough on floured surface until smooth; divide in half, roll each portion between sheets of baking paper until 5mm thick. Cover; refrigerate 30 minutes.
- Preheat oven to 180C/160C fan-forced. Grease oven trays; line with baking paper.
- Using 6.5cm round cutter, cut 48 rounds from dough. Place about 3cm apart on oven trays. Bake about 12 minutes. Cool on wire racks.
- Spread ganache onto underside of cookies; sandwich a mud cake round between two cookies.
- Using heart template, dust cookies with extra cocoa.
Nanaimo Bars
Phew… finally, my first “last- minute” post… now I belong to the to ”last-minute” community…ha. Moving to England means I had to say goodbye to a slow paced life… well, I have to run while I still can. Sometimes I just wish that I could stay at my 20 something longer, be young and living a no worry life. Unlike now…living with millions of obligations and responsibilities… argh…but… at least I stil can enjoy baking even just in few stolen moments.
The January 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Lauren of Celiac Teen. Lauren chose Gluten-Free Graham Wafers and Nanaimo Bars as the challenge for the month. The sources she based her recipe on are 101 Cookbooks and www.nanaimo.ca.
Gluten-free Graham Wafers and Nanaimo Bars:
Preparation time:
• Graham Wafers: 30 to 45 minutes total active prep, 2 ½ hours to overnight and 45 minutes inactive prep.
• Nanaimo Bars: 30 minutes.
Equipment required:
• Food Processor
• Bowls
• Parchment paper or silpats
• Cookie sheets
• Double boiler or pot and heatproof bowl
• 8 by 8 inch square pan
• Hand mixer or stand mixer (You may use a wooden spoon, but this makes it much easier!)
• Saucepan
For Gluten-Free Graham Wafers
Ingredients
1 cup (138 g) (4.9 ounces) Sweet rice flour (also known as glutinous rice flour)
3/4 cup (100 g) (3.5 ounces) Tapioca Starch/Flour
1/2 cup (65 g) (2.3 ounces) Sorghum Flour
1 cup (200 g) (7.1 ounces) Dark Brown Sugar, Lightly packed
1 teaspoon (5 mL) Baking soda
3/4 teaspoon (4 mL ) Kosher Salt
7 tablespoons (100 g) (3 ½ ounces) Unsalted Butter (Cut into 1-inch cubes and frozen)
1/3 cup (80 mL) Honey, Mild-flavoured such as clover.
5 tablespoons (75 mL) Whole Milk
2 tablespoons (30 mL) Pure Vanilla Extract
Directions:
1. In the bowl of a food processor fitted with a steel blade, combine the flours, brown sugar, baking soda, and salt. Pulse on low to incorporate. Add the butter and pulse on and off, until the mixture is the consistency of a coarse meal. If making by hand, combine aforementioned dry ingredients with a whisk, then cut in butter until you have a coarse meal. No chunks of butter should be visible.
2. In a small bowl or liquid measuring cup, whisk together the honey, milk and vanilla. Add to the flour mixture until the dough barely comes together. It will be very soft and sticky.
3. Turn the dough onto a surface well-floured with sweet rice flour and pat the dough into a rectangle about 1 inch thick. Wrap in plastic and chill until firm, about 2 hours, or overnight.
4. Divide the dough in half and return one half to the refrigerator. Sift an even layer of sweet rice flour onto the work surface and roll the dough into a long rectangle, about 1/8 inch thick. The dough will be quite sticky, so flour as necessary. Cut into 4 by 4 inch squares. Gather the scraps together and set aside. Place wafers on one or two parchment-lined baking sheets. Chill until firm, about 30 to 45 minutes. Repeat with the second batch of dough.
5. Adjust the rack to the upper and lower positions and preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit (180 degrees Celsius).
6. Gather the scraps together into a ball, chill until firm, and reroll. Dust the surface with more sweet rice flour and roll out the dough to get a couple more wafers.
7. Prick the wafers with toothpick or fork, not all the way through, in two or more rows.
8. Bake for 25 minutes, until browned and slightly firm to the touch, rotating sheets halfway through to ensure even baking. Might take less, and the starting location of each sheet may determine its required time. The ones that started on the bottom browned faster.
9. When cooled completely, place enough wafers in food processor to make 1 ¼ cups (300 mL) of crumbs. Another way to do this is to place in a large ziplock bag, force all air out and smash with a rolling pin until wafers are crumbs.
Nanaimo Bars
Ingredients:
For Nanaimo Bars — Bottom Layer
1/2 cup (115 g) (4 ounces) Unsalted Butter
1/4 cup (50 g) (1.8 ounces) Granulated Sugar
5 tablespoons (75 mL) Unsweetened Cocoa
1 Large Egg, Beaten
1 1/4 cups (300 mL) (160 g) (5.6 ounces) Gluten Free Graham Wafer Crumbs (See previous recipe)
1/2 cup (55 g) (1.9 ounces) Almonds (Any type, Finely chopped)
1 cup (130 g) (4.5 ounces) Coconut (Shredded, sweetened or unsweetened)
For Nanaimo Bars — Middle Layer
1/2 cup (115 g) (4 ounces) Unsalted Butter
2 tablespoons and 2 teaspoons (40 mL) Heavy Cream
2 tablespoons (30 mL) Vanilla Custard Powder (Such as Bird’s. Vanilla pudding mix may be substituted.)
2 cups (254 g) (8.9 ounces) Icing Sugar
For Nanaimo Bars — Top Layer
4 ounces (115 g) Semi-sweet chocolate
2 tablespoons (28 g) (1 ounce) Unsalted Butter
Directions:
1. For bottom Layer: Melt unsalted butter, sugar and cocoa in top of a double boiler. Add egg and stir to cook and thicken. Remove from heat. Stir in crumbs, nuts and coconut. Press firmly into an ungreased 8 by 8 inch pan.
2. For Middle Layer: Cream butter, cream, custard powder, and icing sugar together well. Beat until light in colour. Spread over bottom layer.
3. For Top Layer: Melt chocolate and unsalted butter over low heat. Cool. Once cool, pour over middle layer and chill.
Ginger Bread House
Two months have passed by, my family and I took giant steps in life again by moving back to Europe.
Yes, a lot of stories to tell but let me just tell you one of them right now… My culinary shock…hahaha… My first time going to the supermarket was overwhelming… major gluttony sin, I wanted to buy everything because everything is so cheap. Blueberries, blackberries, raspberries, autumn vegetables, fish, cheese…etc,etc. I had to stop in front of every rack on every isle, my trolley was full before even my half way trough. In Jordan, we do have everything, but everything is so expensive. After the supermarket came the trip to china town…ahhh… heaven on earth 
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Oh, just thinking about it makes me hungry… so better start on the challenge story. As you all know skipped last month challenge, I felt bad, so this month I just have to do it, this is my first time too on doing a December challenge, strange…how I never have time for it, until now of course.
Making the dough was not a problem, but building it was tough, syrup every where, ginger bread sticking on my fingers, my children kept bugging me with their “decorating advices”, I manage to make the house stand by it self, but my finishing touch is not as picture perfect as I wanted it to be, but I had fun and definitely next time better 
.
The December 2009 Daring Bakers’ challenge was brought to you by Anna of Very Small Anna and Y of Lemonpi. They chose to challenge Daring Bakers’ everywhere to bake and assemble a gingerbread house from scratch. They chose recipes from Good Housekeeping and from The Great Scandinavian Baking Book as the challenge recipes.
Scandinavian Gingerbread (Pepparkakstuga)
from The Great Scandinavian Baking Book by Beatrice Ojakangas http://astore.amazon.com/thedarkit-20/detail/0816634963
1 cup butter, room temperature [226g]
1 cup brown sugar, well packed [220g]
2 tablespoons cinnamon
4 teaspoons ground ginger
3 teaspoons ground cloves
2 teaspoons baking soda
½ cup boiling water
5 cups all-purpose flour [875g]
1. In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar until blended. Add the cinnamon, ginger and cloves. Mix the baking soda with the boiling water and add to the dough along with the flour. Mix to make a stiff dough. If necessary add more water, a tablespoon at a time. Chill 2 hours or overnight.
2. Cut patterns for the house, making patterns for the roof, front walls, gabled walls, chimney and door out of cardboard.
3. Roll the dough out on a large, ungreased baking sheet and place the patterns on the dough. Mark off the various pieces with a knife, but leave the pieces in place.
4. Rolled out the dough on a floured bench, roughly 1/8 inch thick (which allows for fact that the dough puffs a little when baked), cut required shapes and transferred these to the baking sheet. Any scraps saved and rerolled at the end.]
5. Preheat the oven to 375′F (190′C). Bake for 12 to 15 minutes until the cookie dough feels firm. After baking, again place the pattern on top of the gingerbread and trim the shapes, cutting the edges with a straight-edged knife. Leave to cool on the baking sheet.
Royal Icing:
1 large egg white
3 cups (330g) powdered sugar
1 teaspoon white vinegar
1 teaspoon almond extract
Beat all ingredients until smooth, adding the powdered sugar gradually to get the desired consistency. Pipe on pieces and allow to dry before assembling. If you aren’t using it all at once you can keep it in a small bowl, loosely covered with a damp towel for a few hours until ready to use. You may have to beat it slightly to get it an even consistency if the top sets up a bit. Piped on the house, this will set up hard over time.
Simple Syrup:
2 cups (400g) sugar
Place in a small saucepan and heat until just boiling and the sugar dissolves. Dredge or brush the edges of the pieces to glue them together. If the syrup crystallizes, remake it.
Chocolate Macaron
I was going to pass on this month challenge, as my life is still running with chaos… but the otemptation was to big just because it’s Macaron. Although its not my first time baking macarons, but I always want to bake chocolate macaron, and haven’t done it because the words around are, that they are the difficult ones to make…
I just make simple chocolate macarons with chocolate ganache, for amazing unique flavors of course you can browse at Helen’s, Y’s or Julia’s.
The 2009 October Daring Bakers’ challenge was brought to us by Ami S. She chose macarons from Claudia Fleming’s The Last Course: The Desserts of Gramercy Tavern as the challenge recipe.
Claudia Fleming’s Macarons
Ingredients
Confectioners’ (Icing) sugar: 2 ¼ cups (225 g, 8 oz.)
Almond flour: 2 cups (190 g, 6.7 oz.)
Granulated sugar: 2 tablespoons (25 g , .88 oz.)
Egg whites: 5 (Have at room temperature)
Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 200°F (93°C). Combine the confectioners’ sugar and almond flour in a medium bowl. If grinding your own nuts, combine nuts and a cup of confectioners’ sugar in the bowl of a food processor and grind until nuts are very fine and powdery.
2. Beat the egg whites in the clean dry bowl of a stand mixer until they hold soft peaks. Slowly add the granulated sugar and beat until the mixture holds stiff peaks.
3. Sift a third of the almond flour mixture into the meringue and fold gently to combine. If you are planning on adding zest or other flavorings to the batter, now is the time. Sift in the remaining almond flour in two batches. Be gentle! Don’t overfold, but fully incorporate your ingredients.
4. Spoon the mixture into a pastry bag fitted with a plain half-inch tip (Ateco #806). You can also use a Ziploc bag with a corner cut off. It’s easiest to fill your bag if you stand it up in a tall glass and fold the top down before spooning in the batter.
5. Pipe one-inch-sized (2.5 cm) mounds of batter onto baking sheets lined with nonstick liners (or parchment paper).
6. Bake the macaroon for 5 minutes. Remove the pan from the oven and raise the temperature to 375°F (190°C). Once the oven is up to temperature, put the pans back in the oven and bake for an additional 7 to 8 minutes, or lightly colored.
7. Cool on a rack before filling.
Coconut Rice Pudding Parfait with Strawberry and Mint
Another Anniversary post for KBB, The Chief decided to host two kinds of competition, cake decorating and food photography, I decided to participate in the last one only. I would like to do both of them but timing seems not to be on my side.
With this post also I would like to inform you guys that maybe posting in Simplicious might be a “little bit” slow , I’m not going to be “Missing In Action”, still going to tweet from time to time, and promise will be back as soon as possible with a new post.
Without further due, here is my contribution for KBB challenge #13: Merah Putih-from My Kitchen
Coconut Rice Pudding Parfait with Strawberry and Mint
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cup water
- pinch of salt
- 1/2 cup long grain rice
- 1 cup whole milk
- 1 can coconut milk (13.5 to14.5 ouce)
- 4 tbsp packed brow sugar
- 4 tbsp granulated sugar
- 7 fresh mint leaves
- 100 gr strawberries, finely chopped
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
Directions
- Cook the rice with water and salt to al dente
- Stir the whole milk, coconut milk, brow sugar and granulated sugar into the rice, bring the mixture just to a boil over medium heat. Reduce the heat and cook at a bare simmer, stirring frequently at first and constantly toward the end, until the mixture is thick and creamy and the rice is very soft (+/- 30 mins). Transfer to a bowl and let it cool to room temperature, stirring frequently to keep the skin from forming.
- Refrigerate the rice pudding, tightly covered, for at least 4 hours.
- To serve, cut some of the mint leaves into fine shreds. Stir together the strawberry, shredded mint and lemon juice in a medium bowl. Spoon a layer of 2/3 batch of rice pudding into each of 4 short glasses, add 2 tbsp of strawberry mix, top with the rest of pudding batch, add another 2 tbsp of strawberry mix. Garnish each serving with a whole mint leaf.
