Saturday, March 17, 2012

Butter Cookies



Ingredients
  • 1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
  • 2/3 cup sugar
  • 1 large egg
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 21/4 cup flour
  • 1/4 tsp salt

Procedure

  • Beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy with hand mixer
  • Add in vanilla extract and egg
  • In a seperate bowl mix the flour and salt
  • Mix dry ingredients to egg mixture until incorporated
  • Divide the dough into half and wrap each in plastic wrap in log shape
  • Freeze it until the dough is firm to cut, 2hr to overnight
  • It can be frozen for upto a month
  • Cut the logs into .5cm to 1cm thick slices
  • Preheat oven to 170 degree C
  • Line the baking sheet with parchment paper
  • Place the cut cookie dough slices to baking sheet and bake for up to 10-15min or until it start browning
  • Place cookies on wire rack to cool.

Raisin bread with cinnamon swirls



Ingredients

  • 1 3/4 cup  flour
  • 2 tsp
  • 3/4 tsp sal
  • 1 tsp instant yeast
  • 1 1/8 tsp cinnamon
  • 1 egg, slightly beaten
  • 1 tbsp canola oil
  • 1/4 cup buttermilk
  • 1/4 cup plus 2 tbsp 
  • 3/4 cup raisins - rinsed and drained
  • 1/4 cup sugar
  • 1 tbsp cinnamon

  • Procedure
    1. Stir together the flour, sugar, salt, yeast and cinnamon in a large bowl or bowl of a stand mixer. Add the egg, oil, buttermilk, and water. Stir together with a wooden spoon or the paddle attachment until the ingredients come together and form a ball. Adjust with flour or water if the dough seems too sticky or too dry and stiff.
    2. Sprinkle flour on the counter, transfer the dough to the counter and begin kneading. The dough should be soft and pliable, and not sticky. Add flour as you knead ,if necessary, to achieve this texture. Knead by hand for approximately 10 minutes.Add in the raisins by hand to ensure even distribution. Lightly oil a large bowl and transfer the dough to the bowl, rolling to coat it with oil. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap.
    3. Keep it until the dough doubles in size. This only took about 1 hour for me.
    4. Pat the dough into a 5 inch wide by 8 inch long rectangle about 1/3 inch thick. Sprinkle a generous amount of cinnamon sugar over the dough. Then working from the short side of the dough, roll up the length of the dough one section at a time.The loaf will spread out as you roll it up, eventually extending to a full 8-9 inches long. Seal the ends by pressing the dough. Rock the loaf around to even it out and push the ends in so that they are not tapered. Keep the surface of the loaf even across the top. Place the loaf in a lightly oiled 8 1/2 - 4 1/2 inch pan, mist the top with cooking spray and cover with plastic wrap or a kitchen towel.
    5. Keep for 60 - 90 minutes or until the dough expands to top of the pan and is nearly doubled in size.
    6. Preheat oven to 170 Celcius.Place loaf pan on a rack in the middle of the oven. Bake the loaf for 20 minutes, then rotate the pan 180 degrees and bake for another 20-30 minutes. The finished bread should register at 190F in the center and be golden brown on the top. It should make a hollow sound when thumped on the bottom.
    7. Immediately remove from the pan.
    8. Cool for at least 1 hour before slicing or serving.