Monday, October 14, 2013

Chocolate Chip Meringue Cookies

I'm gonna WoW myself. It's 2 back to back post in a day! 

Being a mother of 2 can be challenging when my terrible 2 year old girl  is so interested in what I'm baking and my 5 month old requires my attention all the time he's awake. Just sitting next to him is good. Hmph! And so being like this now, it does not give me enough time to make complicated, fussy and fancy recipes, unless both of them can sleep for a 3 hour nap time in the day TOGETHER! - rather impossible.

But being me, I still needed to bake as Eid Adha is coming. It is a must to celebrate and in order to do that we need sweet home made treats.

So if any of you mothers out there are like me, here is a good go-to recipe. Easy, simple and fast. With a longer baking time, in between rest are possible with  your kids are possible.

I'm sorry if I did not take much photos as you now know, I was either busy tending to the kids or I was rushing to finish these cookies.

But after all that, once the cookies are ready, sit back and enjoy these light and airy cookies with the kids. It will make all that rush worth it! Kids love these cookies for it's light and chocolaty sweet. Great for my Eid Adha gatherings.


Chocolate Chips Meringue Cookies
Recipe adapted from RasaMalaysia (makes about 80 cookies depending on size)

Ingredients:
3 egg whites, at room temperature
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
¾ cup sugar
½ cup chocolate chip ( I divided my batter into 3 bowls and add 3 tbsp of chocolate chips each bowl )
Directions:
Pre-heat the oven to 150 degree C. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. This is important as you do not want these meringues to stick on the sheet.
In a large clean bowl, add the egg whites along with cream of tartar and vanilla essence. Using your hand mixer, beat the eggs on high speed until they are fluffed and form soft peaks.
Now add the sugar and beat it again on high speed until the meringue is glossy and has stiff peaks. Like this!

At this stage, I divided the batter into 3 bowls so that I could color the batter without damaging the chocolate chips. Color your meringue batter. I used Lemon yellow, sky blue and rose pink to obtain the pastel colors. Just a tinge of them. You can gently fold all evenly or you can create a marble effect.
Then using a spatula, gently fold in the chocolate chips in the meringue. Do this gently; you don’t want to deflate the meringue.
With the help a piping bag which makes it so much easier and mess free, place the meringue batter in the bag, cut about 2 cm off the tip. I did not use any moulded tip as the chocolate chip will get stuck in it. Pipe out the meringue in circular form leaving a pointed tip in the center on your prepared baking sheet.  (If you do not have a piping bag, just take 2 tea spoon and spoon out on the baking sheet. It does create a nice rustic look)

Let the cookies bake for 35-45 minutes or until the cookies have a crisp outside and release from the parchment paper easily. Once done remove them from the oven and cool them on wire rack. I did 3 batches of baking. 
These cookies can be stored covered at room temperature for 3-4 days.



Adults loves it, kids loves it, try it! Sweet Yummylicious!

Salam Aidil Adha,

SriKaya & Steamed Pandan Bread Pudding

Since I moved in to my own place, I have not get myself a new oven as my kitchen is not fully done yet. 

Have been begging hubby for a new oven and a KitchenAid but it does seems like I'm not getting 1 any sooner as we've spent most of the our cash on the entire house already. I need to redo my open kitchen to fit in the oven and make it into a baker friendly space. I need a year, probably. Can you believe it, A YEAR?? I still have to go to my mum in law place to bake. It's a hassle. My passion was put to test.

So I moved myself to concentrate more on steaming methods. Since I always wanted to master the art or traditional Malay dessert, this was the time.

Every month of Ramadhan, my mum in law will make this steamed dessert. It was a dessert I would not missed. I would create a space for it even when I'm full or I would even start with dessert first. I was a no.1 fan of that.

I watched her make it. The ingredients was simple and the steps was idiot-proof. But my challenge was, she never go with measurements. She goes with estimation of all indgredients. All!!!

So i braced myself and follow each and every step, writing down every single details. And when it was done, it tasted the same. I got her estimation right. Yay! So here is my share of the recipe. You might be just on time to prepare this for Eid Ad'ha.



There is 1 recipe for 2 types of items. You would need 2 x 6 inch pan.or a heatproof bowl

Sri Kaya Recipe

500ml of coconut milk. ( m.i.l advised to used the packet and not the box ones )

10 pandan ( screwpine ) leaves - to blend
1/2 cup of water
6 eggs
1 cup of white sugar
1/2 tsp Pandan paste ( optional ) - I recommend to add for nicer color
2 pandan leaves - to tie knot a place in the steamer for fragrance.



Directions


  1. Put your steamer to boil. I have a 2 tier steamer and for this, I'm using both tiers.
  2. Blend 10 pandan leaves with 1/2 cup of water. Sieve and take the juice.
  3. Mix all coconut milk, add in the pandan juice.6 eggs and sugar. Mix well.
  4. Add in the pandan paste for an absolute pandan flavor.
  5. Pour 2/3 of the mixture to the 6 inch round pan ( 2 inch high ) or till 3/4 full - You can use any heat proof glass bowl if you do not have any of the cake pans.Remember that you need to leave some mixture for the bread pudding.
  6. Steam this for 30 - 40 mins and you will get something like this.I steamed both Custard and Bread pudding together.


Steamed Pandan Bread Pudding

150 grams 1-2 days old bread. I used french loaf leftovers. Spread some butter if you love like i did.

1/3 cup of water
1/3 mixture of the Sri Kaya mixture

Directions:

In a large bowl, mix the 1/3 SriKaya mixture with 1/3 cup of water.
Pour in the cut/ pulled bread. Let the bread soak for about 3-5mins.
Pour the bread mixture into the prepared pan.
Steam for 30 - 40 minutes.
And you will get this. Do not worry when you open up the steamer and see your bread as if it wants to burst, it's normal. It will go back to its shape once it's out from the steamer.



Easy peasy isn't it?

And once all is done, I love eating them warm while hubby love it cold. You may keep leftover for the next 2 -  3 days in a tight container.

Take spoonfuls of both and enjoy them together and you'll be in Pandan heaven. One of my most comforting dessert.


Well I hope that there is enough time for you to make this Eid Ad'ha. 

Salam Eidul Adha everyone.