Capybara Yuzu Macaron-Shortbread Cookie Sandwich

 Capybara macarons again! But this time, as a yuzu shortbread cookie sandwich!

Don't they look like they are peeking out of windows?

A closer peek at the yuzu ganache filling with some bits of citrus rind in there. 

I could have made everything out of macarons instead of cookies but that would have made the bake a lot more time consuming 🤭.

Shortbread cookies are really simple to make. Simply follow the ratio of 1:2:3 for icing sugar : butter : plain flour by weight. Add some vanilla and salt and you have your vanilla version of shortbread cookies. Roll to your preferred thickness and cut out with cookie cutters. You may even shape the dough with your hands for some fun shapes without cookie cutters. For these sandwich cookies, the thickness I roll to is 3-4mm.

You may refer to my previous blog post for the recipe and tips for making chocolate macaron shells which can be tricky. 

Here's a closer look at the even feet all around.

Here's the reel for tips on how to pipe character macarons with intricate shapes and even feet all around:

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DJ6VZY4JZWx/?igsh=ZHBqYnllZHo4ZDd3

with love,

Phay Shing

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Christmas Cookie Box

It's that time of the year to prepare for our annual Christmas cookie bake for giveaway! This year, the Culinary Arts Ministry team from Adam Road Presbyterian Church has decided to create cookies that are easy to make, tasty, healthier and makes use of Redman's Super biscuit premix. Why the premix? Because it tastes awesome and you only need good unsalted butter as the other essential ingredient. So here are the cookie flavours I have come up with using the premix!

What's on the menu?

🔸Brown butter chocolate chip cookies

🔸Strawberry jam sandwich cookies

🔸Dark chocolate cookies with white chocolate star

🔸Matcha cranberry Christmas tree cookies

Besides the recipe and additional baker's notes, I will be including a longer form video on my Youtube channel for a more detailed visual, and a shorter form video on my Instagram reels. 

Here's the YouTube video:

https://youtu.be/tqO8D3DmtHo

Here's the shorter video in my Instagram reels:

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DCOezBayWxe/?igsh=amU1bjZzdzJpcWwy

The cookies are so simple to make even non bakers and kids can make them! 

Redman has kindly agreed to sponsor the biscuit premix and unsalted butter for our mass bake. 

We are including Alchemy Fibre, which is a prebiotic fibre blend of inulin and edible gum beneficial for gut health, cholesterol and glycemic load, to make the cookies healthier this year.

You may choose to replace the prebiotic fibre mix with inulin (available from health food stores) or simply replace with the biscuit premix if health is not a concern for you. The addition of the fibre affects the dough texture slightly but has no noticeable effect on the final baked cookies in terms of taste and texture. Ratio for replacement is 1:1.

❗Important reminder❗

Remember to take oven baking time and temperature as a reference only as each oven is different. Just bake until lightly browned and crisp. You may have to bake extra pieces just to sacrifice some for taste testing and calibrating the recipe for your oven.

Brown butter chocolate chip cookies

Ingredients:

(makes about 14 cookies)

90g Biscuit premix

22g Alchemy fibre 

70g unsalted butter

40g mini chocolate chips

Steps:

1. Place butter in a light coloured saucepan. Heat over medium-low heat until butter is browned*. Set aside.

2. Whisk together premix and Alchemy fibre. Sift into a mixing bowl.

3. Add brown butter and mix well to form a dough. Cling wrap and refrigerate for 15-20min/freeze for 6-10min to cool down the dough and allow the butter to firm up slightly. Dough should remain pliable after chilling.

4. Add mini chocolate chips and mix well*. Refrigerate 10min while preheating the oven to 160C fan/170C.

5. Portion out 14g (13g if you reserved some chocolate chips) of dough and roll into a ball. Place the balls about 6cm apart on a baking tray lined with parchment paper/Teflon sheet/silicone mat/perforated mat.

6. Bake for 10-12 min or until browned at the edges, rotating the tray halfway through baking.

7. Cool for 5 min before transferring the cookies on a cooling rack to cool completely. Store in airtight container.

*Baker's notes:

🔸You know the butter is done browning when you see numerous specks of brown bits in the butter and the hue of the liquid changes from yellow to a more brownish hue. It also smells great! Swirl the pan as the butter is being heated up or you may stir with a spatula.

🔸If you want the cookies to appear more aesthetically pleasing, reserve about 10-15g worth of chips instead of adding everything into the dough. I was lazy and didn't bother! Press a few reserved chips into the tops of each ball of cookie dough just before baking.

Strawberry jam sandwich cookies

Ingredients:

(makes about 10-11 sandwich cookies, 20-22 pieces of cookies)

96g Biscuit premix

24g Alchemy fibre 

60g unsalted butter, softened

40g strawberry jam

Steps:

1. Heat strawberry jam in microwave oven or over stovetop until it is thicker or weight is reduced by 15-20%*. Set aside to cool uncovered 

2. Whisk together premix and Alchemy fibre. Sift into mixing bowl with softened butter.

3. Mix together to form a ball of dough. Roll between two sheets of parchment paper until about 3mm thick.*

4. Refrigerate 20min or freeze for 10min. In the meantime, preheat oven to 160C fan/170C.

5. Cut 5cm circles of dough out with a round cookie cutter. Place them at least 3cm apart on a lined baking tray*. Use a small heart cookie cutter to cut out a heart shape in the middle of half of the circle cutouts for the top cookie in each sandwich*. 

6. Bake for 9-11 min or until lightly browned, rotating the baking tray halfway through baking.

7. Cool on the baking tray for 5min before transferring onto cooling rack to cool completely.

8. Spread about 1/4-1/3 tsp of cooled reduced jam on the bottom cookie.* Press the top cookie onto the bottom cookie. Store in airtight container.

* Baker's notes:

🔸If you are using store bought strawberry jams, they are usually too watery to use straight from the jar so it is necessary to reduce it to evaporate some moisture. If you try to spread wet jam onto the cookies, they will turn soggy very fast instead of remaining crispy. The consistency of the reduced jam should appear noticeably more viscous while hot, very firm and fairly dry when totally cooled. Use 10 second bursts at high power if using microwave oven to reduce the jam. Stir after each heating cycle and check the weight to see if sufficiently reduced. Use low heat and constant stirring if you are reducing the jam on stovetop.

🔸 If you are upsizing the recipe, it is advisable to divide the dough into multiple portions to roll and chill. This keeps each portion of dough in optimal working condition when you are cutting out the circles. The dough should not be so cold and hard that it tends to crumble when cut, but not so soft that it is tricky to transfer into baking tray. Dividing the dough also ensures that at any point in time, you always have at least a batch of dough that is being chilled, ready for cutting out once you are done with the current batch.

🔸 Line baking trays with perforated mat if possible. This ensures that each cookie has a very flat surface which can sandwich the jam perfectly.

🔸 When cutting out the small hearts, press the cutter vertically downwards firmly and then give it a little wiggle while applying pressure. This ensures a cleaner cut. In the event that the dough cutout has jagged edges, you may use the side of a wooden toothpick to file off the rough outline of the heart after the cookie is baked.

🔸When filling sandwich cookies, less is more. Keep the jam layer thin except for the middle where it can be slightly thicker, but not thicker than the cookie (3mm). Leave a border of about 2-3mm without jam around the circumference of the bottom cookie. This is to ensure jam doesn't spill or peek out from the sides.

Dark chocolate cookies with white chocolate star 

Ingredients:

(makes about 13 cookies)

90g Biscuit premix

12g Alchemy fibre 

18g cocoa powder (I used Valrhona)

60g unsalted butter, softened

25g compound white chocolate chips

Steps:

1. Whisk together premix, Alchemy fibre and cocoa powder. Sift into mixing bowl with softened butter.

2. Mix well to form a ball of dough. Roll between two sheets of parchment paper until about 5-6mm thick.*

3. Refrigerate 20min or freeze for 10min. In the meantime, preheat oven to 160C fan/170C.

4. Cut 5cm scalloped circles of dough out with a scalloped circle cookie cutter. Place them at least 3cm apart on a lined baking tray. Use a small star cookie cutter to cut out a star shape in the middle of each dough cutout*. 

5. Bake for 8min. Reduce baking temperature to 150C fan/160C, rotate the tray and bake for another 7min or until crisp.

6. Cool on the baking tray for 5min before transferring onto cooling rack to cool completely.

7. Place cooled cookies on a tray lined with a fresh sheet of parchment paper. Melt the white chocolate using microwave oven or double boiling method*. Transfer melted chocolate into piping bag, cut a small hole and fill the star cavities. Use a skewer to pull the melted chocolate such that it fills the cavity nicely if necessary

8. Freeze the tray of white chocolate filled cookies for 5min to set the chocolate. Carefully remove each cookie and store in airtight condition.

* Baker's notes:

🔸Please see 2nd and 4th notes under strawberry sandwich cookies for tips on portioning the dough and cutting out the small star cavity.

🔸If using microwave oven to melt white chocolate, use 10 second bursts at medium-high power, stirring to mix well after each heating cycle. The chocolate should be really runny and smooth before you transfer into piping bag. If using double boiling method, make sure the hot water doesn't touch the base of the bowl you are using to contain the chocolate. Be careful not to overheat chocolates or it will seize! 

Matcha cranberry Christmas tree cookies

Ingredients:
(makes about 18 trees)

90g Biscuit premix

24g Alchemy fibre 

6g Matcha powder*

60g unsalted butter, softened

24g dried cranberries, very finely chopped*

Compound white chocolate chips (optional)*

Steps:

1. Whisk together premix, Alchemy fibre and matcha powder. Sift into mixing bowl with softened butter.

2. Mix well to form a ball of dough. Add chopped dried cranberries and mix well until the berries are evenly distributed throughout the dough. Roll between two sheets of parchment paper until about 5-6mm thick.*

3. Refrigerate 20min or freeze for 10min. In the meantime, preheat oven to 160C fan/170C.

4. Cut out the Christmas trees with a 5-6cm Christmas tree cookie cutter*. Place them at least 3cm apart on a lined baking tray. 

5. Bake for 8min. Reduce baking temperature to 150C fan/160C, rotate the tray and bake for another 7min or until crisp.

6. Cool on the baking tray for 5min before transferring onto cooling rack to cool completely. 

7. Pipe melted white chocolate tinsel* and freeze for 5 min to set the chocolate if you wish (optional). Store in airtight container.

* Baker's notes:

🔸You may use ceremonial grade matcha powder if you can afford it as it would give the most intense matcha flavour and colour naturally. If not, you may use culinary grade matcha powder. Do note that matcha powder oxidizes when exposed to air so the green color will turn duller and more brownish with time. You may use Redman's bakeable matcha powder if you want the cookies to retain the vibrancy as it has some green colouring added.

🔸Please see 2nd note under strawberry sandwich cookies for tips on portioning the dough.

🔸Please see last note under dark chocolate cookie for tips on working with melted white chocolate.

🔸 Matcha cranberry cookies are traditionally made as ice box cookies which are sliced from a chilled log of dough because the presence of the cranberry bits make it trickier for cookie cutouts to have neat edges. While it's possible to create neat cookie cutouts, it takes some patience. Chopping the cranberries until they are really fine (1-2mm) helps a lot. In the event the cookie cutout edges are untidy due to cranberry bits, carefully nudge the dough back into place where the cranberry bits stick out or are gouged out from the dough in the process.

Time management tips

Many of us are busy people so anything that helps to make a massive bake manageable is always welcomed. The great thing about cookies is the work can be spread out over time with short bursts of work in between.

1. You can prepare the dough in advance and store it in the freezer. For sheeted dough like the sandwich cookies, dark chocolate cookies and matcha cookies, you may roll sheets of dough between parchment and freeze them as a stack. You may portion the brown butter chocolate chip cookie dough into 14g portions and store in containers in a single layer in the freezer. 

2. You can break the dough prep over time if you are preparing the dough for hundreds of cookies to make it more manageable. Just freeze the dough each time you make.

3. For cookies made from cutouts, you may freeze the cutouts in single layers separated by parchment. Make sure the base layer is chilled until firm before stacking.

4. Baked cookies can be frozen right after cooling down to room temperature and stored in airtight condition. Either pack them in their final packaging or store in single layers separated by parchment in airtight condition. Let the cookies thaw at cool room temperature before opening the container as exposure of cold cookies to warm moist air will cause condensation to form on the cookies, making them lose their crispiness. 

5. Remember to add a minute or two to your baking time if you are baking from frozen. Just bake until lightly browned and crisp.

Do give these a try and they are yummy but simple to make!

 with love,

Phay Shing

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Old School Iced Gem Biscuits (Updated Recipe!)

 Those of you who followed me long enough will know that 10 years ago I was on a quest to nail the recipe for old school iced gem biscuits. It took me some tries to get something I am satisfied with and bakers who tried my original recipe all agreed it tastes pretty close to the actual stuff from Khong Guan. Click here for the original recipe if you are interested. I decided to tweak it a little and now it's even better!

I also used raw egg whites to make the royal icing the old fashioned way instead of using meringue powder because there have been requests for it. Many people who don't bake regularly prefer not to buy a big portion of meringue powder just to make these. Don't worry, it's perfectly still safe for consumption as the egg whites are going to be cooked.

Here's a peek at the insides!

Please watch the reel over here for the process.

https://www.instagram.com/reel/C8mFFEQycTo/?igsh=MXZoNHJnY2Q0MDhkaA==

What did I do differently this time? I have included milk powder to give these light tasting crisp biscuits a stronger hint of milk flavour. I included a 30 minutes resting time for the dough to relax as well before rolling it out.

Iced Gem Biscuit Recipe

The recipe makes about 110 biscuits. Feel free to use half the recipe if it's too much for you to handle.

Biscuit base:
140g plain flour 
1 tbs (10g) full cream milk powder
2 tsp baking powder
20g icing sugar 
1/8 tsp salt
50g vegetable shortening
50-60g milk or as much as needed to form dough
1/4 tsp vanilla extract

Royal icing:
25g fresh egg whites
1/8 tsp cream of tartar or 1/4 tsp lemon juice
120g sifted icing sugar 
1/2 tsp vanilla extract (optional)

Gel/powdered food colouring or flavoured pastes as desired ( I used pandan, strawberry & lemon pastes. Original gems have unflavoured icing or just a hint of vanilla)

Steps:

1. Make the biscuit base. Sift together milk powder, icing sugar, flour, salt and baking powder.

2. Rub in shortening until it resembles fine breadcrumbs 

3. Gradually add milk with vanilla extract added until a ball of dough forms. As long as the dough ball doesn't split when you squish it, it is ready.

4. Wrap the dough in cling wrap. Set aside at room temperature for 30 min

5. Preheat oven to 170C fan/180C.

6. Roll the dough between parchment paper or lightly floured surface until 3mm thick. Dust your rolling pin lightly to prevent it from sticking to the dough if you are not rolling between parchment paper.

7. Cut out the dough with 2-2.5cm round/oval or scalloped cookie cutters. Lay on lined baking tray about 2cm apart. You may use parchment/teflon sheet/silicone mat/perforated mat to line your trays.

8. Bake for 10-15 min or lightly browned. Cool completely before icing 

9. Prepare royal icing. Whip egg whites with cream of tartar or lemon juice until foamy. Gradually add sifted icing sugar and whip until stiff peaks. You may add vanilla if you wish.

10. Divide icing into different colours. You may use gel or powdered colouring, or flavoured pastes to colour the icing. Original iced gems are not flavoured or only mildly vanilla flavoured. I chose to include a little variation in flavour.

11. Use a small open star tip to pipe the icing onto the biscuit base. 

12. Dry in 70C oven for an hour or until thoroughly dry and crispy. If the biscuits are hard or not crisp, you didn't dry it long enough. The drying time here is just a reference so adjust accordingly. Do not be tempted to speed up the drying process by increasing the temperature as the icing may crack above 75-80C. The biscuits should be really light and crisp when baked correctly. 

Storage

Store in airtight condition after cooling completely in the oven. If stored well, it can keep for a few weeks at cool room temperature. Simply pop the biscuits into the oven to dry them out again anytime they lose their crispiness.

Baker's Notes

🔸Use royal icing made with meringue powder if you wish. I used raw egg whites as I received queries over the years about making these without meringue powder but safe enough for consumption

🔸Do not replace shortening with butter if you prefer it crisp, light, with a slight hint of milky flavour but without any buttery notes like the old school biscuits in Southeast Asia. Feel free to use butter instead if that's your preference. Rest the dough in the fridge if you are choosing to use butter 

🔸The secret of making the biscuits really light & crisp is the long time spent in the oven to thoroughly dry out any moisture. This helps to extend the shelf life too!

🔸You may use round cookie cutters, piping tips or cutters with scalloped edges as long as they are about 2-2.5cm in diameter

Tag me on Instagram if you make this! I am sure you will be pleased with the results like those who tried my original recipe 10 years ago! 

with love,

Phay Shing

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Pompompurin Brown Sugar Cookies

 Besides Pompompurin macarons, I made brown sugar cookies as requested by my friend!

Here's a picture with both macarons and brown sugar cookies in view!

My friend loves my brown sugar cookies and looks forward to having them each year. This is the 10th year I am making them for her daughter's birthday!

You may refer to this post for my brown sugar cookie and royal icing recipe. There's a good reason why she asks for it every year. It's so fragrant and tasty without being overly sweet. Do give it a try if you would like an iced cookie base that actually tastes better with age/storage 😊. 

with love,

Phay Shing

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Tie-dye Langue De Chat

 I have shared heart shaped Langue de Chat sandwich cookies over here and here earlier this year. Here's another fancy but simple way of making these crisp buttery cookies --- tie-dye!

This is my contribution to this year's Culinary Arts Ministry event at Adam Road Presbyterian Church in April. 

I make use of matcha powder and cocoa powder to colour and flavour the cookies naturally. Feel free to use other colouring/flavours if you wish!

Ingredients (makes about 22-24 cookies):
50g unsalted butter, slightly softened
Pinch of salt
45g sifted icing sugar
25g egg whites, room temperature
1 tsp vanilla extract
¼ tsp soy lecithin (optional)
*Plain: 17g cake flour 
*Matcha: 16g cake flour + 3/8 tsp matcha powder
*Cocoa: 15g cake flour + ¾ tsp cocoa powder 

* Replace with 50g cake flour if you are just making a single colour of batter instead of 3.

Here is the video tutorial of the process:

https://www.instagram.com/reel/C5R0VO1SaWP/?igsh=Y2t2MXRtMW96eG9o

Steps:

1. Line baking tray with template and parchment paper. 

Resize this template to fit A4 paper.

If you have Teflon sheet or silicone mat, use it as the spreading of the batter will be more even than parchment paper. Preheat oven to 150-160C.

2. Beat softened butter briefly with electric mixer/ hand whisk/ spatula.

3. Add sugar and salt. Beat until well combined.

4. Add egg whites in 2-3 additions. Beat until smooth. Add soy lecithin if you wish to help with emulsification.

5. Add vanilla and mix until well combined.

6. Divide into 3 equal portions, about 40g each.

7. Add sifted cake flour + flavouring to respective portions. Fold with spatula until combined.

8. Transfer into piping bag with #7 or #8 tip.

9. Position piping tip over middle of the circle, about 4-5mm away from surface of baking tray. Pipe until the batter reaches the circumference of the innermost circle. 

10. Switch to another colour of batter and place piping tip over middle of piped batter. Pipe until the first batter reaches circumference of middle circle.

11. Switch to final colour of batter and place piping tip over middle of piped batter. Pipe until the first batter reaches circumference of outermost circle or as large as you like. Repeat for all circles, switching the order of the colours as you wish. Try to stack the circles right in the middle for a neater floral/tie-dye pattern.

12. Use a skewer to pull the batter from the center of the circle to the circumference as shown in the middle cookie, fourth row from the top. Clean the skewer after each stroke.

13. Repeat step 12 but in the diagonal positions (forming an “x” instead of “+”)

14. Use skewer to pull the batter from the circumference to the center of the circle between the points in step 12 and 13 to form the flower pattern. Repeat for all piped batter.

15. Carefully remove the template. Bake for 10-11 min or until edges are browned. Reduce temperature to 110C and bake for another 5-6 min to thoroughly dry it out to be crispy.

Cool completely before storing in an airtight container. Feel free to bake the cookies again at 150C for a few minutes to re-crisp it if it has softened after storage.

Enjoy!

with love,

Phay Shing

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Heart Langue De Chat without using molds (Part 2: Pink Berry Ombre Cookies)

 After showing you how to make assorted heart shaped cookies without using a heart mold, I will show you how to make things a little more interesting by making it sweet ombre pink!

Recipe makes about twelve-thirteen 2" heart sandwich cookies (adapted from siZning's YouTube)

Strawberry Langue De Chat cookie:

50g unsalted butter, slightly softened

45g icing sugar

1/16 tsp salt

25g egg whites

1/4 tsp soy lecithin (optional)

3/4 tsp vanilla extract

1/8 tsp strawberry emulsion

50g cake flour, sifted

White & pink gel colouring 

Berry filling:

45g white chocolate 

3g freeze dried raspberry or strawberry powder

1/8 tsp strawberry emulsion

1. Beat softened butter briefly with electric mixer/hand whisk/spatula

2. Add sugar. Beat until well combined

3. Add egg whites in 2-3 additions. Beat until smooth. Add soy lecithin if you wish to help with emulsification.

4. Add vanilla & strawberry emulsion. Mix until combined

5. Add flour. Fold with a spatula until combined

6. Divide into 3 equal portions. Add white or pink gel colouring to achieve desired shades to 2 portions.

7. Transfer into a piping bag with #5 tip. Pipe as shown in the video tutorial link below.

Piped batter

8. Bake at 150-160C for 10-11 min. Bake at 110C for another 5-10 min to dry it out

9. Prepare filling while cooling the cookies. Melt chocolate & add the rest of the ingredients in. Mix well. Fill & assemble sandwich cookies

You may see the piping video tutorial over here:

https://www.instagram.com/reel/C2pSkvPSTO5/?igsh=MTQwc2RpNWRudWptOA==

Baker's Notes:

Please see part 1 for important notes on basic baking tips to ensure success

- Let the batter fall from the piping tip like you would when piping the border on cookies iced with royal icing. Pipe slowly to have better control of the shape. Video is sped up by 7x. To do so, you don't have to apply a lot of pressure on the piping bag but instead, let gravity do most of the work

- Using a skewer to gently nudge the boundary between colours will make the slight indent/crack between colours invisible. It's ok to omit this step if you don't mind the appearance of the indent at the boundaries.

- I added white gel colouring to make the browning less obvious but you may colour it anyway you like!

- Use a metal file used for bakes only or a fine zester to gently file off bits that make the cookie look out-of-shape (see part 1 reel) but you may skip this step if your cookies are in a nice heart shape. Most of the heart shapes in this larger batch turned out fine even though I piped on parchment so I didn't need to file down as many pieces as the smaller hearts in part 1


with love,
Phay Shing

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Heart Langue De Chat without using molds (Part 1: Assorted cookies)

Langue De Chat means cat's tongue in French but they are thin crispy butter cookies. Sometimes they are made as sandwich cookies filled with chocolate and these are usually made using molds. The Japanese popularized the sandwich cookie version and you may have seen it sold in pretty gift boxes. If you have not heard of langue de chat, you may be familiar with the names Shiroi Koibito or 白色恋人饼. While the popular Japanese versions are usually square in shape, I made them in heart shapes for Valentine's Day!

If you don't wish to increase the clutter at home with yet another mold, here's how you can make them. I made mango, mixed berry, matcha and dark chocolate flavours. You can make them in any flavour you like but I feel this combination has such pleasing colours and adding sour mango to the filing makes the cookie overall less sweet. Feel free to stick with the classic white chocolate only if you don't mind a sweet cookie!

Recipe makes about twenty-eight 1.5" heart sandwich cookies.

Butter base:
100g unsalted butter, slightly softened
90g icing sugar
1/8 tsp salt
50g egg whites
1/2 tsp soy lecithin (optional)
1 tsp vanilla extract

Flour & flavouring:
Mango: 25g cake flour
Mixed berry: 25g cake flour + 1/16 tsp strawberry emulsion
Matcha: 23g cake flour + 2g matcha powder
Dark chocolate: 22g cake flour + 3g cocoa powder

Filling:
Mango: 45g white chocolate + 3g freeze dried mango powder
Mixed berry: 45g white chocolate + 3g freeze dried raspberry powder + 1/8 tsp strawberry emulsion
Matcha: 45g white chocolate + 3g matcha
Dark chocolate: 45g dark chocolate + 3g light corn syrup or any invert sugar

Steps:
1. Beat softened butter briefly with electric mixer/hand whisk/spatula

2. Add sugar. Beat until well combined

3. Add egg whites in 2-3 additions. Beat until smooth. Add soy lecithin if you wish to help with emulsification.

4. Add vanilla. Mix until combined.

5. Divide into 4 equal portions. Add the respective flour & flavouring to each portion. Fold with spatula until combined

6. Transfer into piping bag with #5 tip. Pipe as shown

7. Bake in preheated oven at 150-160C for 10 min or until slightly browned at edges. Bake at 110C for another 5-10 min to dry it out

Freshly baked cookies!

8. Prepare filling while cooling the cookies. Melt chocolate & add the respective flavourings. Fill & assemble sandwich cookies

You may watch my reel for the process:

https://www.instagram.com/reel/C2bASczy2Z2/?igsh=MXZvajRnMWh4NDFpMQ==

Important Baker's Notes:
- Use room temperature egg whites. Cold eggs will cause the mixture to split

- Add the egg whites a little at a time to prevent mixture from splitting

- Adding an emulsifier like soy lecithin helps to prevent & remedy a split mixture. Some recipes use whole eggs but I prefer it without egg yolk inside for a lighter crispier cookie although egg yolks can help to bring the emulsion together 

- The extra baking time at low temperature is to ensure that your cookie remains crisp. Although the cookies are crisp freshly baked, without the longer drying out time, it won't stay crisp for long especially when exposed to humid air

- Using a scribe tool/skewer to nudge the batter edges & middle (shown in reel) is optional if you wish to have the border visible

- Use teflon sheet/silicone mat to help with better shape retention after baking. Parchment paper may result in the baked cookie going "out of shape"

- Use a dedicated metal nail file or a very fine zester to gently file off "out of shape" cookies (shown in reel)

Stay tuned for part 2 on how to create a sweet ombre version of the cookies!

with love,
Phay Shing

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Angel S'mores

 You have seen my iced cookie version of angel cookies. Here's my S'mores version using the same template!

The angel S'mores are angel marshmallows on my favourite (and default) brown sugar cookie coated with chocolate! I didn't use the classic Graham cracker base as my brown sugar cookie has a similar flavour profile and I happened to bake some brown sugar cookies.

I reused the template for royal icing transfers for making the angel marshmallows but I enlarged the template a little for a larger cookie base, and spaced out the angels more for marshmallow making. You may refer to my baby Jesus and angle cookie post for the template.

Piped marshmallows using the template before the faces are painted on 

Here's the video tutorial of how I piped the angel marshmallows and assembled the S'mores:

https://www.instagram.com/reel/C0gqQHZSr-Q/?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

I used to think marshmallows are one-dimensional tasting candies that are way too sweet. S'mores was the reason why I fell in love with marshmallows because the taste, texture and aroma is on another level when the marshmallows are toasted just before consuming.

If you would like to find out more about how to create marshmallow characters of your own imagination, grab a copy of our newest book in the Creative Baking series: Deco Marshmallows! 

with love,

Phay Shing

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Baby Jesus and Angel Cookies

 This is the third year our church's Culinary Arts Ministry is having a cookie giveaway project. And for this year, we decided to tell the Christmas story through cookies! Several of us are involved in baking hundreds of cookies so this takes some co-ordination and planning in advance. With many of us having busy schedules, using royal icing transfers is one way to make a big project more manageable. I am in charge of making the angel cookies and a couple of other members have kindly volunteered to make the baby Jesus cookies. We have sheep, heart, star and candy cane (representing shepherd's staff) as part of the cookie storytelling too! Of the whole collection, baby Jesus and the angels will be made using icing transfers as they can be made way in advance and the use of templates makes it easier for those of us who cannot pipe by freehand. Here are some of the icing transfers and sample cookies I made.

I chose to use my default brown sugar cookie as the cookie base as it is actually adapted from a gingerbread cookie recipe which does well being exposed for long periods, has a long shelf-life, and has a soft chewy texture that is still great after being softened by royal icing. I coloured and flavoured it by substituting 10% of plain flour with black cocoa powder. I wanted the cookie to appear like the angels against the night sky as they brought the good news of Jesus' birth to the shepherds. As the cookies are smaller (about 4-4.5cm), baking time should be around 10-12 min at 170-180C. Cookie and royal icing recipe is in the link for my default brown sugar cookie recipe. 

Here are the templates for baby Jesus and the angels.

Resize the templates to fit on A4 paper before printing. Please acknowledge me if you use the templates and share your work 😊. The icing transfers can be used on cookies that are 4-4.5cm in diameter. Feel free to change the hairstyles if you wish like what I did for some of the angels. I crafted the design with simplicity in mind for those of us who need to produce hundreds of cookies but have limited time. So if you have the bandwidth, feel free to embellish your icing transfers with more details like halo, rosy cheeks etc.

You may refer to my reel or YouTube video for the piping steps (will update the post soon with the video links). 

Here's the angel royal icing transfers I made in advance! I will be baking the cookies and sticking the transfers on nearer the date. This method of making the design really makes the work more manageable when you have to make so many!

Here are some tips and pointers you may find helpful.

How long can I store royal icing transfers?

They can be stored in airtight conditions at room temperature for a few months with no issues if they are thoroughly dried and sealed. This means that you can already prepare the icing transfers right now in early- mid November if you intend to give out the cookies at Christmas time. You may stick the transfers to the cookies a week or even two weeks before the giveaway.

What surface can I pipe the icing transfers on?

You may use parchment paper, teflon sheets, silicone mats or even acetate sheets. Refrain from using warm oven to dry the icing transfers if you are using acetate sheets.

Royal icing transfer tips and Instructions

- Store unused icing in the fridge covered in airtight container and with cling wrap touching surface of icing. You may prepare the royal icing in advance and it can be stored in the fridge for a month.

- Stir icing thoroughly before transferring into piping bag or OPP (oriented polypropylene) cone for use. Do not overfill OPP cone if using.

- Make sure consistency of icing for baby Jesus/angel is at flooding consistency I.e. when you try to draw streaks of icing in the mixing bowl, it should disappear within 10 -15 seconds. If it does not, add a few drops of drinking-safe water at a time and stir thoroughly before testing the consistency again.

- Make sure consistency of icing for the hay is stiff. i.e. when you try to make any peaks of icing in the container, it should stand up straight without curling over.

- Cut a hole about 2mm in size in piping bag for piping baby Jesus' swaddle, angel's body, the face and hair. Cut a 1mm hole in OPP cone for the nose, angel wings and eyes (if piping dots for eyes instead of stamping with toothpick). 

- Use a skewer to nudge the icing where necessary. 

- Use a damp paper towel to quickly erase any mistakes before the icing sets. 

- Make sure icing for face is hardened on the surface before you pipe/ stamp out the nose and eyes. Use the blunt end of a toothpick to stamp out the eyes for a quick way to ensure that the eyes are consistently round and the same size. Use fan or oven with fan mode at 60-70C to speed up drying process.

- Make sure icing transfer is thoroughly dried before attempting to remove it from the parchment paper. Icing may appear dry on the surface but inside could still be soft and wet so it may be safer to err on the side of drying for a longer time. Overnight drying in the open is definitely safe.

- Store icing transfer in airtight condition before use.

- After baked cookie has cooled down completely, you may pipe the hay using the stiff icing in piping bag fitted with a #233 tip with adapter for attaching baby Jesus icing transfer. Pipe a swirl starting from the circumference and ending in the middle of the cookie. Gently but firmly press the icing transfer onto the hay.  Pipe a small dollop of icing to stick the angel onto the cookie. (See video tutorial)

- Please switch piping tips once the holes of #233 tip starts becoming clogged. Quickly wash and dry thoroughly before using again. Using a tip adapter helps you to make the switch more seamlessly because stiff royal icing hardens much faster than flooding consistency icing.  

- Dry in the open overnight before storing/packing. Alternatively, you may dry in oven at 60-70C for 15 minutes + 30 minutes in the open or until icing is dry. Cool completely before packing.  It is not recommended to dry the icing with the cookie for too long in the oven as it may cause oil from cookie to seep into the icing.

Troubleshooting

1. Help! My piped icing is bumpy and not smooth!

Icing consistency may be too thick so you may need to thin it out a little. Be careful not to over-thin it or you may experience issue number 2 below. Try to work in a more humid area that has no draft to prevent the icing from setting too fast on the surface. Resist the urge to prod the piped icing too much with a skewer once you have piped it as the longer it stays piped, chances are a thin crust has already formed and disturbing the icing will cause the surface to appear bumpy.

2. My piped icing surface is smooth but after sitting out for a while, the middle starts to sink in and form a crater/crack.

There are 3 possibilities:

a) Your icing consistency is too runny

b) You didn’t stir the stored icing sufficiently before transferring into piping bag 

c) You left the piped icing sitting out for too long and the meringue structure of the royal icing breaks down before a crust starts forming on the surface 

For issue with c), try splitting the templates into smaller quantities to work with e.g. pipe only 4 or 8 at a time before sending into 60-70C oven to quickly dry the surface. This is what I practice at home to prevent the cratering effect. I set up 2 or more trays and keep rotating them between oven and work surface, piping only a few to several transfers at a time. Oven drying for about 2-4 minutes helps the crust to quickly form, preventing the cratering effect.

3. Help! I broke the icing transfer! Is there anyway to rescue it?

That depends on how bad the damage is. I would usually discard because trying to fix it and still make it look nice is difficult. Prepare to make extras because icing transfers are generally fragile and time consuming to make. Accidents usually happen while removing transfers from parchment paper and while transferring it from place to place. The risk of breakage only stops happening once it is stuck on the cookie where it belongs! If a clean crack happens across the swaddle, you may use white icing to pipe across it so it appears like part of the design on the swaddle. If the crack happens across the face, sorry you may have to discard the transfer.

4. Help! I accidentally thin out my royal icing with too much water!

Add icing sugar a little at a time until royal icing reaches the correct consistency.

I am not a cookie decorating expert but I have made iced cookies since about 9 years ago. Hopefully what I shared is helpful for you if you intend to make large batches of Christmas cookies!

with lots of love,

Phay Shing

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Pokeball 3D Cookies with a Hidden Surprise

 Over the years many people have made edible Pokeballs out of chocolate and hid surprises inside. I have to confess I dislike working with chocolate for structures or construction because my home kitchen is on an average 29-30C, RH 65-80% all year round, with some days out of the range in either direction. This makes it almost impossible to temper chocolate and handle it for assembly. I only do dry work in the aircon room like drying piped macaron batter or packaging marshmallows.

I made the Pokeballs out of cookies instead!

The surprise inside is chocolate coated marzipan balls from Marks and Spencer

Putting marzipan balls in the cookie cavity

Because I didn't take the chocolate route, this was more time consuming to create as I needed to bake the cookies and coat them with royal icing. Thankfully, Julia Usher shared multiple detailed videos on how to create spherical/hemispherical iced cookie structures so I had a very good guide on how to make them. Do checkout her YouTube channel for the videos!

I used Julia's cookie recipe but omitted the spices and replaced it with a little cocoa powder. I only had the dark molasses on hand at home so the cookies appear darker. You can also use honey instead. As I only needed a small amount of dough, I reduced the portion by a few times. I used my default royal icing recipe with a little light corn syrup added to soften to texture a little.

Another thing I learnt in this project is making and using fondant from scratch. I thought long and hard about how to create the details of the Pokeball and came to the conclusion that fondant is still the best. Although I used homemade marzipan or modelling chocolate for details that are fondant-like in the past, I wanted something that is easier to handle (than modelling chocolate) in my hot and humid environment, and appear less grainy (than marzipan as almond flour grains may show a little in marzipan). I will still consider modelling chocolate and marzipan for future projects if they are appropriate because they taste good, just not for this project.

I chanced upon recipes by Veena Azmanov for homemade fondant which doesn't taste as bad as I thought! I have to stress that it has to be made from scratch and not from store bought marshmallows, for homemade fondant to taste good. I have avoided working with fondant because they don't taste good. Well I am proven wrong with homemade ones, especially when black cocoa powder is used for black😋! I used this recipe for white fondant and this recipe for black fondant. I made really small batches since I only needed a little fondant and won't be using it in the foreseeable future. 

Here's a reel for the process of making these cookies! Pardon the lack of coverage during most of the fondant parts as I didn't want to have to focus on the camera while working with the sticky mess that took me some time to get the hang of it 😆. It turned out I needed to knead in a lot more icing sugar/ cornstarch mix for it to be workable because of my hot and humid working conditions.

https://www.instagram.com/reel/Cx0K3Sty8gF/?igshid=MWZjMTM2ODFkZg==

I managed to make a dozen of them!

It was a good learning experience throughout the whole process and my chocoholic elder kid happily ate all the cut Pokeballs (I cut a few of them for taking videos and taste testing) . One of them is going on top of a macaron carousel. Stay tuned for it!

with love,

Phay Shing

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BT21 Cherry Blossom Scene (a marshmallow & cookie creation)

 My friend requested a creation from me to surprise his girlfriend who is a BT21 fan. A picture of the whole squad in a cherry blossom field was sent to me along with the request. He was kind enough to give me an open date and let my imagination go wild. Presenting my version of the scene made out of marshmallows and cookies!

This was before I scattered the cherry blossom "petals".

And this is the reference picture!

I refused to use a huge cakeboard or make the characters really tiny so it isn't an exact replica but I tried my best to capture the essence of the scene.

I made the tree trunks and base out of cookies using my favourite brown sugar cookie recipe but I replaced brown sugar with regular sugar. The characters and foliage are made out of marshmallows. The sakura petals are made out of wafer paper coloured pink with lustre dust. I used royal icing and store bought sugar flowers for the other details.

Here are some pictures of the trees and characters before assembly!

The characters have not been dusted yet in these pictures. I make duplicates of each character in case of accidental uglification 

I used templates for my marshmallows and it helps a lot because I can't do freehand piping of characters very well. I will show you the technique in detail in my upcoming Deco Marshmallows book.

Here's a reel for what went on behind the scenes:

https://www.instagram.com/reel/CxaersoykFw/?igshid=MWZjMTM2ODFkZg==

Thank God the surprise was very well received!

with love,

Phay Shing

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4-Ingredient Gluten-Free Coffee Cashew Butter Bear Cookies

 These gluten-free and dairy-free bear cookies are soft, chewy, fragrant and tasty, BUT insanely easy to make! 

This is so easy even young kids can help to make the dough! If you don't bother with the bear design, it is also very quick to make these cookies. You only need a mixing bowl, hand whisk and spatula to make the cookie dough. The recipe can be applied to any nut butter. I used the coffee cashew butter from Redman but you may omit the coffee bit and just use any nut butter of choice. The coffee in the nut butter I used isn't too strong and I feel helps to round out the flavour. My kids love it!

Cookie dough

(makes about 22 rounds or 19 bears)

250g (1cup) coffee cashew nut butter

140g brown sugar 

1 egg (60-65g with shell on)

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/8 tsp salt (optional)

1/8 tsp caramel essence (optional)

Decoration

White chocolate chips

Mini dark or milk chocolate chips

Black cocoa powder (optional)

Steps:

1. Preheat oven to 180C. Line baking tray with baking paper/mat.

2. Dump everything for the dough into mixing bowl. Lightly beat the egg with a whisk. 

3. Mix everything with whisk & switch to spatula when it gets too thick to whisk. Sugar doesn't need to be dissolved but dough should look homogeneous.

4. Set aside for 10min to firm up. 

5. Shape into balls of about 20g each. Place on baking tray at least 5cm apart. Flatten the balls of dough. Add ears of about 1g each if desired.

6. Bake for 8-12 min or until edges are lightly browned. Cool on tray. 

7. Decorate bear face if desired, with chocolate chips & melted chocolate.

Tips & Notes:

- I used Central Sugars Refinery's "Better Brown low GI sugar" that tastes great but only has a glycemic index of 55 (that's way less than plain flour!)

- Salt & caramel essence are optional but they serve to improve the flavour

- I reshaped the bear heads to be slightly oval but that's optional

- Use a fine zester to smoothen the edges of baked cookies if you wish

- Make sure excess black cocoa powder is dusted off thoroughly or you may stain the cookie if you accidentally drop it on the bear.

You may refer to my Instagram reel for the tutorial of shaping and decorating the bear face. You may choose to decorate it any way you want or leave it undecorated too!

https://www.instagram.com/reel/Cvdzdc-gHkM/?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

Here's a peek at the insides!

with love,

Phay Shing

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Lychee Cake with Marzipan Covered Walnut Brown Sugar Cookie Deco

This is a way overdue post! I didn't get around to posting it because it has so many components to this bake! I made this cake for my friend's son who was turning 21... a year ago 🙈. She wanted a theme that showcased his love for Chelsea and his stage in life as a young man about to enter business school. I made a lychee raspberry rose cake with marzipan and cookie cake topper.

It's my first time making anything remotely fondant-like as the centerpiece. Those of you who know me long enough know that I don't touch fondant because it does not taste good. Marzipan on the other hand, is still somewhat edible although sweet as well. Almond is nutritious after all 😆. 

I used Cooking Tree's recipe for marzipan, which contains more almond than sugar and doesn't use raw egg whites. The books, laptop, scarf, outer layer of soccer ball, the limbs and outer layer of the figurine were all made of marzipan. The Graham cookie base was covered with a thin layer of marzipan too.

Marzipan 

240g almond flour

200g icing sugar

50g light corn syrup (or honey but honey imparts colour)

30g water

Steps: 

1. Sift together almond flour and icing sugar.

2. Add light corn syrup and water and knead until a dough forms. Dust with extra icing sugar if it gets too sticky.

3. Add gel colouring and form into shapes desired. Keep any unused portions cling wrapped to prevent drying out. Like fondant, marzipan can be left out to dry to harden.

As I didn't want the decorative parts to contain too much sugar, I used edible cookie dough for the head, body and center of soccer ball.

Edible cookie dough with toasted walnut 

(Adapted from chefsweets.com/veganedible-cookie-dough)

38g butter (I use Golden churn)

44g light brown sugar

Pinches of salt

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

40g heat treated plain flour (microwave to reach 71.1C)

20g chopped toasted walnut

1. Briefly cream together butter, brown and salt.

2. Add vanilla extract and mix well. 

3. Add sifted heat treated plain flour and mix until a dough ball forms. Add chopped toasted walnuts (optional) and mix well. Store in airtight condition at cool room temperature until ready to use, preferably within a few days.

Here's the weight of marzipan and edible cookie dough I used for the various parts. I am recording this more for myself but it's great if you find it helpful too!

Soccer ball

The core is 8g cookie dough, followed by a layer of 8g marzipan wrapping around it. The outer surface is made up of 20 small white balls and 12 small black balls. The small balls are 1-1.5g each. The white ball in middle made up of the core and marzipan wrapping it should be about 8x bigger than smaller balls.

Marzipan soccer ball that tastes way better than any fondant 😆

Figurine

Legs 56g

Shoes 7g each

Body 52g  (marzipan + cookie)

Hands 10g each

Head 50g (marzipan + cookie)

The head and body are marzipan wrapped edible cookie dough.

I mounted the scene on a large Graham cracker base. But instead of whole wheat flour, I used plain flour for a softer texture. This firm but yummy base is necessary for anchoring the marzipan figurine to the base so it doesn't fall apart accidentally during transport. I ran a skewer from the head through the body into the cookie base. 

Graham cracker

142g whole wheat flour or plain flour

85g light brown sugar

½ tsp cinnamon powder

½ tsp baking soda

3/8 tsp salt

50g unsalted butter (slightly softened but still firm)

23g milk

42g honey

1tsp vanilla extract

Chopped toasted walnuts (optional)

1.  Line 7" round baking tin with parchment at the base and sides. Preheat oven to 150-160C.

2. Whisk together flour, sugar, salt, cinnamon and baking soda in a mixing bowl.

3. Add butter in and use fingertips to rub in until fine breadcrumbs form. Alternatively, you may use a blender, a pastry cutter, or a pair of butter knives to do this.

4. In a measuring jug, mix together honey, milk and vanilla. Pour into dry ingredient mixture and form a dough. The dough will be sticky.

5. Press dough into baking tin, making sure the top is flat. Press in some toasted chopped walnuts if you wish. Bake for 30 min. Cool completely.

Freshly baked large cookie base

I used desiccated coconut that is coloured green with vodka and vanilla extract added as the "grass". The desiccated coconut was glued onto the marzipan covered base using a little water.

Ta-dah! My first hand molded figurine cake topper!

The cake on which the cake topper sits is made of three layers of lychee rose chiffon cake filled with chopped canned lychees, lychee jelly, lychee rose diplomat cream and raspberry lychee reduction. The whole cake was then coated with lychee rose Italian meringue buttercream (IMBC).

Lychee rose chiffon cake

(makes three 9.5" cakes)

9 yolks

112g oil

113g canned lychee puree, strained

1.5-2 tsp rose syrup

1.5 tsp vanilla extract

1/8 tsp salt

190g cake flour

meringue*

9 whites

135g caster sugar

1/2 tsp cream of tartar

* Split the meringue ingredients into separate batches if you don't have multiple ovens. Bake in preheated oven at 150C for 30 min. Cool in oven for 5min with door ajar. Cool in open for 5 min before removing from pan. Line base of pan with parchment.

I didn't want to make this long post even longer than necessary so you may refer to this post on method of making the chiffon cake batter.

Lychee Rose IMBC 

( Reference recipe from Catherine Zhang over here)

300g canned lychee syrup

15g caster sugar (added to syrup that is not too sweet)

2 egg whites (76g) + 5g caster sugar

1/2-1 tsp rose syrup

300g unsalted butter, softened but cool

20g icing sugar (optional)

1. Place egg whites and 5g sugar in standmixer and mix of low speed. The little bit of sugar is to help stabilize the meringue.

2. In the meantime, heat 300g canned lychee syrup with 15g caster sugar. I added a little sugar as the syrup wasn't too sweet to begin with so I wasn't sure there was enough sugar in the lychee syrup.  Heat syrup until 115C without stirring.

3. When syrup reaches about 110C, turn mixer speed up to medium and whip until soft peaks. Turn mixer speed down if syrup is not yet 115C. 

4. When syrup is ready, turn mixer speed up to medium high and slowly pour syrup down the sides of the mixing bowl. Continue beating until totally cooled to room temperature.

5. At medium speed, add butter 1 tbs at a time. Continue beating 10minutes more until light and silky.

6. Add rose syrup and beat until well combined.

7. If your IMBC is rather soft due to low sugar content of lychee syrup, you may add a little icing sugar and beat for a couple of minutes at this point.

Refrigerate up to a week or a month in freezer

Filling in cake

10 chopped canned lychees

Lychee jelly

Lychee rose diplomat cream

Raspberry lychee reduction

Lychee jelly

Bloom 6 sheets of gelatin (12g) in 50g cold lychee syrup. Melt in microwave. Stir in 100g lychee syrup. Set in fridge until firm before cutting into small pieces.

Raspberry reduction

110g raspberry puree (strained to remove seeds)

15g lychee syrup

Cook over low heat and reduced to 70g.

Lychee Rose diplomat cream

2 yolks

20g cornflour

50g milk

150g lychee puree, strained

6g rose syrup

Pinches of salt

15g unsalted butter

100g whipping cream*

(I use non-dairy whipping cream which is pre sweetened and stabilized. If using dairy cream, stabilize with gelatin and add sugar)

Please refer to this post for the method for diplomat cream.

Here's a peek at assembling the layers. I spread some raspberry reduction before layering on diplomat cream and topping with lychee jelly and chopped lychees.

I coloured half the IMBC blue so that I could frost the cake in Chelsea colours.

Thank God it was very well received!

with love,
Phay Shing

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