Flourless Peanut Butter and Chocolate Chip Cookies

I sometimes think I have the attention span of a 5 year old, which explains why I will probably never be a patissier, a baker maybe, but never a pastry artist. There are a few foolproof baking recipes that I have found and mastered, which have a natural buffer for failure, so even if the cookies turn out as ugly cookies, I get forgiven because they shine in the flavour department. I recently found another recipe that can be put together in less than 10 minutes excluding baking time, other than measuring, it is an under-three-steps cookie: measure ingredients, stir them together, shape them and pop them into the oven. And, to me, there is nothing better than the combination of peanut butter and chocolate, two of the many of my favourite foods. Hersey’s got it spot on when they created those Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, and it’s a damn shame they don’t sell those here! As an alternative to Reese’s but a rather far substitute, this recipe makes a good double dozen of slightly sticky soft gooey delicious peanut butter and chocolate chip cookies.



Flourless Peanut Butter and Chocolate Chip Cookies
Makes 24

Ingredients:
250 g chunky peanut butter
200 g golden brown sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
160 g miniature semisweet chocolate chips

Method:
1. Preheat oven to 180°C.
2. Mix all ingredients except chocolate chips in medium bowl. Mix well then add in chocolate chips.
3. Using moistened hands, form generous 1 tablespoon dough for each cookie into ball. Arrange on 2 ungreased baking sheets, spacing 5 cm apart.
4. Bake cookies until puffed, golden on bottom and still soft to touch in centre, about 12 minutes. Cool on sheets 5 minutes. Transfer to racks; cool completely.

Recipe taken from: Bon Appétit, September 1999

Butter Cake + Hand Mashed Bananas

Before I even owned a cook book, the book I knew where I could find recipes at home was this white mahjong paper wrapped jotter book that my mother stuck recipe clippings and hand wrote some of her own.

One of the first things I remember cooking from this book, well technically not cooking but baking was a butter cake. Baking was a safer way to involve children in the kitchen. Usually no knives or a live fire was required, instead sifting flour, cracking eggs, elbow grease, arm muscle and a ready frame of mind to clean up the mess was required, naturally made it the choice activity.

The first thing I did was to help with the sifting of the flour. Then I watched our aged kenwood mixer whirl around the butter and the sugar to form a white fluffy cream like substance. Next step was to add the eggs, and I did as I was told, one egg at a time. Finally, in went the flour and it we were nearly there. All that was left was to pour it into a baking tin and then into the oven for it to work its own magic.

Over the weekend, our friendly fruit vendor or fruit man as we call him gave us some free bunches of bananas that he had in excess. The only thing was that, they were already overripe and not going to last another day. What to do, what to do? Let’s find a way to preserve the bananas. Let’s make banana cake!

I’ve never made banana cake, but I’ve made butter cake. Over the years, this trusty recipe has served me well. Maybe practice made perfect or maybe it is just a fool proof recipe. I’ve added raisins and made cupcakes for gifts, mixed in chocolate for a marble cake and the now my latest creation banana cake (butter cake + hand mashed bananas + dash of cinnamon). I don’t think there is a difference if you mashed it with a fork, stone, masher or your hands, but I recommend hand mashing—there is nothing better than being in touch with your food. Squishing and squeezing the bananas in the palm of your hands, its really quite fun.



Banana Cake
Makes 1 loaf cake

Ingredients:
120 g sugar
250 g butter
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
5 large eggs
240 g self-raising flour, sifted
A dash of cinnamon
3–4 bananas, mashed

Method:
1. Cream sugar and butter in an electric mixer with a paddle attachment until pale and fluffy.
2. Add vanilla extract then eggs, one at a time, and mix until incorporated.
3. Fold in one-third of flour and cinnamon then half of the mashed bananas. Repeat and fold in remaining flour.
4. Pour cake batter into a 9 x 5 x 3 inch loaf tin then bake in a preheat oven at 180°C for 50 minutes or until top is evenly browned and a stick comes up clean when poked in the centre of the cake.

Bread Therapy

“Push, stretch and fold, push, stretch and fold, push, stretch and fold…” sometimes there is nothing more therapeutic than doing performing a mindless repetitive action that has a constructive end product.

Now I understand why I’ve been warned, “If you start baking bread, you wouldn’t stop!” While pondering over issues that troubled my mind, there was nothing better than kneading dough. Maybe it’s a need to feel in control of something when other things seem beyond your control, but kneading dough, this very tactile activity, is very good for the soul. Not to mention, you can freshly baked bread to consume with a thick spread of nutella or peanut butter if you still feel blue after your own bread therapy session.



Sesame Flatbread
Makes 4 flatbreads

Ingredients:
200 g bread flour
½ tsp sea salt
3 g dry active yeast
170 ml tepid water
1 Tbsp olive oil + a little extra
1 Tbsp sesame seeds

Method:
1. Place flour and salt into a large mixing bowl.
2. Dissolve yeast in water. Slowly add water to flour, kneading to bring the dough together.
3. As soon as it comes together, turn dough out onto a floured surface and knead for about 5 minutes until the dough is smooth, then cover with a cloth and set aside to rest for 45 minutes.
4. When dough is ready, divide into 4 equal portions and roll out on a floured surface to circles of about 15-20 cm in diameter.
5. Place on a baking tray, drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle sesame seeds. Bake in a preheated oven at 230°C for 5-10 minutes. Each bread should partially bubble up and colour slightly yet not be crisp.

Red Bean Cookies?

Don’t ask me why, but for some reason I thought red bean cookies would have been a good idea. Unfortunately, my concept of the cookie was better than the actual cookie itself - the red bean flavours was too mild to be tasted. They turned out simply as tasty cookies, but not tasty red bean cookies. Boo.

Red Bean Cookies
Makes 48



Ingredients:
3 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
250g unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup red bean paste
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup sugar2 large eggs

Directions:

Preheat oven to 200°C and line 2 large baking sheets with baking paper.

Beat butter, red bean paste and vanilla in large bowl until well blended and then beat in sugar. Stir half of dry ingredients into mixture. Add eggs 1 at a time, stirring well after each addition. Mix in remaining dry ingredients.

Using a tablespoon, scoop out a heaped tablespoon of cookie dough and roll into a ball and arrange the dough balls about on a tray 5 cm apart. Using back of fork, flatten dough balls.

Bake cookies until dry on top and golden brown on bottom, about 14 minutes.

Cool cookies on baking sheets 5 minutes. Transfer onto cooling rack and cool completely.