Ginger Molasses Crinkle Cookies

 

It has been a while since I last baked any cookies. Today, I have decided to bake our all time favourite cookies, the ginger molasses crinkle cookies. I am following a recipe that I found in the Canadian Living website Ginger Molasses Crinkle Cookies.

Ingredients:

• 1-1/4 cups (300 mL) granulated sugar
• 2/3 cup (150 mL) vegetable oil
• 1/4 cup (50 mL) fancy molasses
• 1 egg
• 1-3/4 cups (425 mL) all-purpose flour
• 1-1/2 tsp (7 mL) ground ginger
• 1 tsp (5 mL) cinnamon
• 1 tsp (5 mL) baking powder
• 1 tsp (5 mL) baking soda
• 1/2 tsp (2 mL) salt

Steps:

1. In large bowl, whisk together 1 cup (250 mL) of the sugar, oil, molasses and egg until smooth.
2. In separate bowl, whisk together flour, ginger, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda and salt ; stir into sugar mixture.
3. Shape by rounded tablespoonfuls (15 mL) into balls; roll in remaining sugar to coat. Place 2 inches (5 cm) apart on parchment paper–lined or greased rimless baking sheets.
4. Bake in top and bottom thirds of 375°F (190°C) oven, rotating and switching pans halfway through, until cookies spread out and tops crack, about 12 minutes. Let cool on pans on racks for 10 minutes; transfer to racks and let cool completely.

The cookies turn out perfect and we are loving it. Will definitely bake this again soon.

Cranberry Applesauce Muffin

 

It’s Munro Day today, a public holiday for Dalhousie University. Thus, I have decided to whip up some muffins with whatever I have on hand; applesauce and frozen cranberry. I started Google for cranberry applesauce muffin and found this interesting recipe: Cranberry Applesauce Muffin. It was pretty easy and I got it all done in less than half an hour. The only change I made was to substitute pecan with sunflower seeds. The muffins turn out awesome.

This recipe yields about 9 large muffins:

Ingredients

• 1 cup unsweetened applesauce
• 1/3 cup vegetable oil
• 1 eggs, beaten
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup fresh or frozen cranberries, chopped
• 1/2 cup sunflower seeds

Steps

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour a muffin pan, or use paper liners.
2. In a small bowl, mix together applesauce, oil and egg. In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. Make a well in the center, and pour in egg mixture. Stir until just moistened. Fold in cranberries and pecans. Spoon into muffin cups, 2/3 full.
3. Bake in the preheated oven for 25 to 30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool in pan for 2 minutes before removing.

For those celebrating the lunar New Year, I would like to take this opportunity to wish all a happy, prosperous and healthy Rabbit year ahead. We have been quite busy lately and thus, not able to prepare much CNY cookies.

Big Peanut Cookies

It has been months since I last posted anything here as I have not been baking anything new. Life has been quite hectic for us for the past few months and will be for the coming months. Anyhow, it all happens for good and we are always hopeful for the future. I still hope I can still squeeze some time in between to bake in my kitchen. Today, I have decided to bake Big Peanut Cookies as hubby loves the same cookie from Second Cup very much. For the past 2 weeks, we have been patronizing the Second Cup in our CS building during tea break for a cup of coffee and a piece of Big Peanut Cookie.

To my surprise, it’s fairly simple to whip up a batch of these detectable treats from scratch. I have mine done while hubby was taking his afternoon nap (about half an hour). I got the recipe from here: Peanut Butter Cookies. The recipe yields about 9 big cookies. Now we can have these cookies anytime and anywhere we like with our favourite espresso. Enjoy!

Simple English Scone

It must has been a much awaited update and finally it’s here! My apology for all the delay as it has been a roller coaster ride for me and hubby for the past few months. Anyhow, let’s bygone be bygone. Let’s be happy now and live every moment to the fullest.

For this time round, I am planning to bake the English scone which is different from the previous Cranberry Scone (American biscuit) that I made previously in terms of the following:

• Shape - the English scone is round while the  American biscuit is triangular.
• Texture - the English scone is denser while the American biscuit is lighter and fluffier especially when it is hot.

The English scone recipe is introduced to me by my dearest sister and the recipe is as shown below. In addition, my sister also introduced me to clotted cream which is a perfect match for scone. Clotted cream can be found easily in UK but not in Canada. After some search, I finally manage to get it from Pete's (our favourite grocery store in Halifax).

The scone turns out perfect in terms of taste but not the shape as I wasn’t able to shape it nicely with my hand. Anyhow, I have learnt the right way now by watching How_To_Make_English_Scone in YouTube. I would recommend anyone who wants to try this recipe to watch the video before trying it out. It will give you a better idea on what to expect. Oh ya, the clotted cream tastes good too. I find the uniqueness of the cream in the sense that it gives a nice blend to the scone without overpowering the taste of scone. For those of you who are unable to find the clotted cream, you can always eat it with butter. Enjoy!

Banana Cake

In the previous blog, I made some banana muffins and hubby suggested that we can make it in the form of banana cake (those just like back home). Today, I have decided to try it out and it turned out good. We just the same recipe as Awesome Banana Muffin with the exception of replacing half the all purpose flour with whole wheat flour. In addition, I have increased the baking time to 35 minutes. Do try it out and bake it in the shape that you would enjoy. Have fun!

Awesome Banana Muffin

It has been quite a while since I last posted any new recipes as we were away for summer holidays. Not to worry, we are back to our home sweet home and lovely kitchen. We will slowly catch up in our cooking and baking.

For a start, we have decided to bake some banana muffins and found the Awesome Banana Muffin from catcancook.com. The photo looks great and the recipe seems easy to follow.

The muffins turned out great and we truly savour every bite of it. It reminds us of our banana cake back home. Hubby suggested that next time we shall bake it as a rectangular cake rather than as muffins. That’s a brilliant idea. I shall try it the next time round.

Ingredients:

• 3 or 4 Large bananas, mashed (the more bananas the moister, so I used 4)
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1 slightly beaten egg
• 1/3 cup melted margarine or butter
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 1/2 cup walnuts/chocolate chips (optional)

Directions:

1. Mix the mashed banana, sugar, egg and margarine together. Set aside.
2. In a separate bowl, mix together baking soda, baking powder, salt and flour.
3. Mix wet and dry ingredients all together.
4. Pour into greased muffin tins, and bake in 350 degrees F oven for approximately 20 minutes.

The recipe yields about 12 large muffins. The muffins are soft and flavourful even after 3 days.

My New Baking Gadget – Scooper Dooper

I have always like to shop for new kitchen tools or baking gadget. While we were watching the Canadian Best Recipes Ever, the chef was using a scooper dooper all the time. It seems to be a super convenient tool. However, we were unable to find it in Halifax. Thankfully, I found it in Seattle University District last week. I stated using it and found it to be really useful especially in cutting my cookie dough and biscotti dough. For those bakers out there, this is definitely a good tool to have!