Sweet Burgers

Even though I’ve been quite busy lately, I tried out two new bakes this weekend – the doggie cookie and French macaroons. All because I wanted to bake something nice for my colleagues whom I’ll not be seeing for at least a year.

Both these new bakes are not easy to make. The doggie cookies require quite a bit of effort to shape and ‘design’ it so it looks like a dog. And I was inspired by the French macaroons I’ve been reading on Evan’s Kitchen Ramblings blog.

Since I have never tasted these before (the closest I’ve baked are coconut macaroons), I bought three from Bakerzin (cost me $4 – which was already an offer price ‘cos its normal price is $1.60 each). And my first reaction was – it’s really SWEET!

After doing some research on the Net, I tried out a chocolate French macaroons recipe which had the least sugar. Still, I reduced the sugar by another 20%. And I decided to use a mocha filling from another recipe.

As this was my first attempt at piping, it’s natural that my ‘burgers’ had different sizes and some couldn’t ‘sit’ properly : ( And they’re definitely American size ‘cos they’re really huge – double in height! Certainly not the petite pretty ones found at Bakerzins or Evan’s blog.

Nonetheless, I liked it – my 'American' macaroons were crispy on the outside, and soft and chewy and of course, sweet on the inside. Even my mom liked it and she’s not easy to please when it comes to bakes. She even gave me the idea that those made by others probably used a mould.

May try out green tea burgers filled with azuka beans tomorrow.

Muffins… are still the Best!

What have I been up to lately? Well lots… busy helping a friend with a magazine, trying to spend more time to study Korean and learn about IR – no, no, it’s not integrated resorts but investor relations, plus my marathon training.

So, some things just have to go… like baking, Korean dramas and shopping. I really miss baking though… since it’s really therapeutic, I try to do it once a fortnight.

I must say I’m quite happy with my last two bakes – yogurt banana muffin and triple chocolate muffin. All thanks to a friend. In the past, half my muffins always turn out a bit hard, or not as soft as I had wished. What's worse, they sometimes feel like a stone the next day.

While I’ve had a few successes,I wished for more. As many bakers would know, many recipes use cup as a measuring unit for most ingredients like flour, sugar etc. I usually use 155gm per cup of flour. But a friend showed me a website that gave 140gm for each cup of flour. So, I cut down the flour used and so far, these two muffins were soft and nice. So much so that my mom ate two of the triple choclate muffin at a go. That’s the best compliment I get from my mom and it's really rare.