Butter coconut cookies

This artistically stacked hillock of brown jenga pieces is in fact an artistically stacked hillock of edible jenga pieces. Alright, it’s not artistically stacked, and these aren’t pieces from a game..these are cookies squares, or rectangles, for you geometrically fastidious lot. Butter coconut cookies to be more precise..the kinds that possess the power to transform your tea time into a festivity—they don’t even need tea as an excuse to be eaten. They have looks, texture and crunch; all the makings of cookie stardom, and yet they stay humble. Modestly unadorned, on your tea table, or your dining table, or your study table, where they’ll sit in quiet obeisance, patiently waiting to be chewed on..one after another.

You didn’t think you could stop after just one, did you? No! you cannot. Not only is it against cookie eating rules, but also because you sure as all hell couldn’t resist these tan little fellas, exuding coconut fragrance and tropical desires.

And would you believe it, despite their come-hither look, they’re rather incomplex. You could tszuj up these coconutty babies in moments.

The usual suspects, only a lot lesser than usual. Butter, flour, brown sugar, desiccated coconut and coconut extract. If however you do not have coconut extract (and why should you), use vanilla extract.

There’s a picture of a blender because I felt like making life difficult for me, by putting ingredients into a blender instead of creaming them the usual way. It’s more convenient to use a food processor, but I was not disappointed with the outcome of this contraption. Let me not speak in riddles any further.

it puts the lotion into the basket, or cubed up cold butter along with flour into the blender, and whizz ’em mercilessly. Actually you gotta pulse it. a few second pulse a few times, and you’re there.

the butter and flour will get mixed, and the flour will begin to clump.

like so.. (you can also use the good old creaming method. You know, where you beat the butter and add in sugar, so on and so forth. This is just easier and less fussier and your muscles stay relaxed.

add in the sugar and pulse again, a few times

you will end up with the most fabulous sweet edible sand. But we’re yet to add a few more ingredients to the alchemy.

so, in with the coconut

a few drops of coconut extract, and a good mix.

almost there, but it’s still a bit crumbly. Not quite together.

nothing that a couple tablespoons of milk won’t rectify.

mix it a bit together.

and there you have it. Serious clumpage.

using your hands, roll it into a ball.

stick it in a cling film, and let sit in the fridge for 30 minutes. Makes it easier to handle.

generously flour your board. The point is to not let it stick when you roll. Don’t skimp on the flour.

roll the dough out. It will break on the edges but that’s not a bad thing, nor difficult to manage. Just keep putting things in place and perspective using a spatula or palette knife. and keep running it under the dough as well, to ensure that it doesn’t stick to the board.

like so.

once the dough is rolled out, sprinkle over some more desiccated coconut and white sugar. The top will retain the coconutty, sugary granules and look all the more alluring. It’s a vanity thing.

you can cut these into any shape or form. The easiest would be into squares using your knife, just slice through the dough and form easy rustic squares..but I was itching to try out these Japanese cookie cutters that I’d recently bought in a fit of idle need, and proceeded to fall in love with them.

oh so pretty did they look —their rectangular fluted edges with an air of serene uniformity.

I couldn’t help but click them in different lights and angles.

bake at 180°C for 18-20 minutes, for the desired crunch. Let them rest for a few minutes on the baking sheet before transferring on a cooling rack

they get crunchier every sitting moment.

Eat as many

______________________________________

Ingredients

Flour: 200g (1, 1/4 cup)

Brown sugar: 100g (1cup)

Butter: 100g (1/2 cup)

desiccated coconut: 50 gm (1/2 cup)+ 2 tbsp (for sprinkling)

coconut/vanilla extract: 1 tsp

milk: 2 tbsp (if needed)

granulated white sugar: 2 tbsp ( for sprinkling)

Recipe:

Pulse together the butter, flour and sugar in a food processor until it starts clumping together. Transfer into a bowl and add in desiccated coconut and extract and mix. If the dough doesn’t come together, add in the milk and mix.

forem into a ball, wrap in cling film and let it rest in the fridge for 30 minutes.

Roll into a neat square on a generously floured board. make sure the dough doesn’t stick to the board. sprinkle coconut and granulated white sugar on top and cut into squares.

bake at 180°C for 18-20 minutes in a pre heated oven and let cool on a cooling rack.

Serve with tea, or just as is.

stack em high and apply to face.

Eggs in a basket

This my lovelies, is an egg, enshrined in a bread and lovingly called egg in a basket. No gourmet affair mind you, but an affair still, of the wondrous bread and egg..meant to be eaten as a morning staple, after a night of excesses in bar or bed.

This is just the kind of breakfast you make, while groggy from last nights decadence. You want something simple but not too sloppy, and it does not get simpler than this, while still maintaining a bit of rustic chic. I mean what could be better than a buttery golden crisp toast, with a cavity filled with golden ooze of sunlit eggs? This is a miracle cure and a smashing breakfast, especially if you’re in a critical need to nurse your hangover or sore aching parts.

don’t you love it already? it has only three ingredients. Bread, eggs and butter.

to make the basket to fit in the eggs, grab a cookie cutter or even a random glass and press into your bread

to get a basket

I used two different sized glasses to get two different sized baskets, because sometimes in food and in life you gotta live on the edge.

check them baskets out..or holes, or voids that is your life if you make these and eat alone.

over medium heat, melt as much butter in a skillet/pan. This is supposed to be comforting, so if you’re looking at skimping on the fat then you might as well feast on air and call it a day.

swirl the butter around to coat the pan, and put your basket bread on the melted butter

gently, lower in the cracked egg. It makes life a lot easier if you crack the egg in a separate bowl.

see, make sure you slide it gently, and it’ll sit pretty.

season lightly with salt

and pepper

and gently nudge the sides after 30-40 seconds to see if you can flip it.

flip and let it cook on the other side as well.

ok, so let’s revise again! this time with the other bread with a smaller basket…so bread atop melting butter on medium low flame

slide in the egg

admire your handiwork

season with salt and pepper

flip after few seconds and we don’t want the basket covers going waste, so we toast those too.

oh my my, what do we have here? a perfect breakfast?

totally optional, but I do it..because life is short and it’s always a good idea to make it shorter..add a slice of ham

bask in glory

but just this is absolutely perfect too.

Ingredients

bread- 2 slices

eggs- 2

butter- 2-4 tablespoons

Recipe instructions

cut out cavities from the middle of your bread by sinking in a cookie cutter or proportionately sized glass rim, make sure its diameter isn’t bigger than the surface of the bread.

melt butter in a skillet on medium heat and place the bread on the melting butter, and slide in the cracked egg in the bread cavity. Season with salt and pepper and flip after a 30-40 seconds once the lower side is golden and egg is cooked. Cook the other side until golden and cooked.

Serve hot.

Enjoy!

Citrus butter cake

It’s been a while since there’s been any sun in our frigid little Chinese town, but I’m not complaining.Maybe I am because everything is cold and freezing and butter at room temperature is a solid brick and my bread dough doesn’t rise and it’s always raining and everything is wet and it feels like I’m living in a glacier…..but there are moments when there’s plenty sunshine in my kitchen, courtesy this golden cake, that looks like sun-rays and tastes like sunlit oranges bathed in sweet butter and love.

I’m not exaggerating, ’tis true and you know it and not least because you can make this cake at the snap of your fingers and smugly too.

Yes there’s fanta and no shame. Regular stuff that is butter, sugar, vanilla extract, salt, lemon and orange zest plus extra for icing, a whole lemon, fanta, flour, baking powder and

eggs that I forgot to include, but here they are.

into the flour add salt

and baking powder and keep aside for a while

this is a citrus cake and we want every breath to speak of it, which is why into our sugar we mix in the lemon zest

and orange zest

and using our fingers we just mix it all in so every bit of sugar is infused with the citrus twang.

in a separate glass juice your lemon

and add in the fanta.

beat together room temperature butter and zest mixed sugar until nicely mixed and kinda fluffy. It’ll only take a couple of minutes.

crack in the eggs. one at a time and beat after each addition to mix thoroughly, so here’s the first

and the second. It turns a fabulous yellow/orange after each addition.

once it’s all mixed well in add the vanilla extract

beat again and now it’s time for the flour which we will add in three additions. So here’s 1/3rd of our flour, mix briefly

and 1/2 of our magic potion that is fanta and lemon juice. Mix after each addition just until the batter comes together

another 1/3rd of flour, beat briefly.

add the remaining fanta, lemon juice, and mix to combine.

followed by the rest of the flour. Beat to make a smooth batter. It doesn’t take long.

You’ll finally get this. A pool of sun in a steel bowl.

Pour into baking tin of choice. I was too lazy to butter a loaf tin so I lined it with a baking sheet, but please feel free to butter and flour your cake tin. Bake at 180°C for 35-40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Like so. The kitchen at this point smells like orange marmalade doing a cabaret. You can eat it as it is but a bit of embellishment never hurt anyone.

an easy glaze or make up if you prefer. add some reserved zest into icing sugar

with a spoonful or so of leftover fanta in case you haven’t been too greedy.

mix to form a pourable consistency like so.

and let your cake have it, make sure it has cooled down completely.

This cake may look sober but it’s oozing with oomph. It smells like sun and tastes like light. Every bite carries a citrus hit and honestly any cake that uses a can of fanta cannot go wrong. it’s easy, delightful and a much desired change from everything boring these winters.

Ingredients

butter: 100 g (1/2 cup)

flour: 170 g (11/2 cup)

sugar: 110 g( about 1 cup)

fanta: 200 mls (3/4cup)

lemon juice: 1 tablespoon

eggs: 2

salt: 1/2 tsp

baking powder: 1 tsp

vanilla extract: 1 tsp

orange and lemon zest: 1 tablespoon + extra for icing.

For icing

icing sugar: 100 g (about 1 cup(

lemon + orange zest (1 tsp)

fanta: 1 tablespoon

Recipe instructions: mix flour, salt and baking powder and keep aside. add the lemon and orange zest in sugar and mix in with fingers until fragrant. In a glass squeeze in one lemon and mix with fanta.

In a separate bowl, beat room temperature butter and sugar until fluffy. Add in the eggs one at a time and beat for a minute after each addition. Add in the vanilla extract and beat again.

Add the flour in three stages alternating with fanta and juice mixture in two, and beat well after each addition until the batter is smooth.

Pour into a baking tin and bake at 180°C for 35-40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Let cool completely.

For the icing mix in the zest, fanta and icing sugar until you have pouring consistency. Pour over the cooled cake and let set before serving.

Make this now!

Peanut butter & snicker cookies

As I mentioned earlier in my posts, I’m currently residing in a small town in China which is a little scarce in the kind of foodstuffs we are usually used to. It isn’t such a big problem though but the biggest issue I face is— wait for it… NO BUTTER !!!!!! none… there are 2 walmarts here and none sell butter, because its not such a big deal here and no one cares for butter.. no one buys it and no one eats it.. so basically it’s been a month and we haven’t had any butter.. ahh the food of the gods.. we’re waiting for the summers to go down a bit and maybe then we’d be able to go out to another bigger city and buy a couple of tons for the winter hibernation.

Soon enough I was facing cookie and cake withdrawal. I needed to bake a batch and soon.. hubby was getting impatient and I was twitching, missing the surplus and the comforts of some homemade cookies, which is when I finally decided to take charge and make do with whatever little I had. There was nothing to lose after all. Considering it’s just the two of us I didn’t even need to make a lot, and this experiment couldn’t really go wrong when you have peanut butter and snickers involved.. I mean seriously, whats the worst that could happen?

The experiment proved successful and I had me over a dozen cookies (15 to be precise)..

Here’s how I did it..

Ingredients

½ cup sugar granulated

2 eggs

1 cup flour

1 tsp vanilla essence

½ tsp baking powder

I regular bar of snickers (cut into small tiny pieces)

½ cup peanut butter

With a hand mixer or a stand mixer,cream the butter and sugar together with a frenzy you’d never known before. Add in the vanilla essence and fluff it up some more. Add in the eggs and beat again finally adding in the flour and baking powder and beating it together.

Once it all comes together you finally add in the snicker pieces and give it one last mix. I refrigerated mine for 15 minutes before putting them on my baking tray. You can just put them as it is. bake them at 200℃ for 6-8 minutes depending on your oven..

In my cookies the snicker pieces arent too visible on the outside but you can see just a teeny bit of nougat melting out. I cut my snickers pieces too small, you can cut them up according to your choice..

Enjoy..

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