Oatmeal Biscuits / Oatmeal Cookies

Baking is always a lot of fun but baking with the Children is so much More Fun! The Lovely Wife is the Cookie expert in the house. Sure, I make cookies too but with far less frequency than the wife. This is partly due to my impatience with having to shape / drop the cookies on to the trays and then bake them in many batches. But I do so love to whip up a cookie mix and then leave the baking to someone else!!



Incidentally, did you know that in Commonwealth countries, cookies are actually known as biscuits while in the USA, biscuits refer to a type of bread - most commonly small breads made without yeast, also know as quickbreads. As language has evolved, cookie generally refers to the softer, chewy kind of biscuit.

In my home however, we use the term biscuit and cookie interchangeably whereas by right, it should be Biscuit, since we have a colonial past, speak English (rather than American!) use Metric measurements, drive on the left side of the road and spell using the British system( you know colour, organise, centre... to name just a few). Nonetheless with the influence of television, I can't very well tell my kids that the Cookie Monster should be the Biscuit Monster can I? Then it would have to be "B is for Biscuit, good enough for me.." rather than "C is for cookie, good enough for me...."

Heck! Even I grew up on Sesame Street and the Cookie Monster. I used to wonder from a very early age what the difference between cookies and biscuits are and coulnd't really accept that it was just a language/cultural thing. I then used to wonder why we eat Beef instead of Cow, Pork instead of Pig but we eat Lamb, Chicken and Duck.

This explains why I still spend an inordinate amount of time thinking about the unnecessary. My friends and relatives still make fun of me for this reason but I see nothing wrong with an inquisitive mind and this inquisitiveness seems to have rubbed of a little on my two kids. I guess it's true that the apple doesn't fall far from the tree.

Anyway, getting back on track, these biscuits were made by my wife and kids back in November. My son loves taking biscuits for his snack time at kindergarten and he loves nothing better than Mummy's home made biscuits.

Interesting story. Early in the year, he took some of my Chocolate Brownies to kindergarten and shared some with his teacher and classmates. The teacher asked my son "The brownies are very nice, did Mummy make them?" My son replied that it was actually Daddy that made the brownies and that Daddy is the one that makes the cakes at home.

A few weeks later, my son started to take the Lovely Wifes home made biscuits to kindy for his snack time. The teacher then asked him "Did Daddy make these too?". My son explained that Mummy made the biscuits and not Daddy. The teacher then quipped "Oh, so Mummy has become clever now."

The story is much funnier when it's told in person and even more so when my son tells it......

Anyhoo. These are the Oatmeal Cookies the Lovely Wife likes to make and that the kids love to eat. This is the first time that they helped in the making of the biscuits and they had a lot of fun with it.




The recipe comes from Le Cordon Bleu Home Collection - Biscuits. The Lovely Wife loves the Cordon Bleu collection and the recipe is as follows:

Ingredients
125g plain flour
1/2 tsp sodium bicarbonate
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
100g brown sugar
125g castor sugar
125g unsalted butter
1 egg lightly beaten
1 tsp vanilla essence
1 tbsp milk
1 tsp grated orange rind
160g rolled oats
125g raisins

Method
Preheat oven to 180C. Line baking trays with bakingpaper. Sift together flour, sodium bicarb, bakingpowder and salt.
Cream together the sugars and butter. Add the egg, vanilla and milk and beat till smooth. Sift in the sifted ingredients and mix well. Stir in grated orange rind, then the oats and raisins.
Scoop up balls of the dough with a tablespoon and drop on the prepared trays. Space them about 5cm apart.

Bake for 10-12 minutes or until just brown.
Remove from baking trays and let cool on a wire rack.



The kids really enjoyed baking cookies and are now looking forward to helping to bake all the cakes and biscuits for Christmas!

Daily Tiffin - Welcoming in the New Year

It's my turn to post again at the Daily Tiffin!

This is my second contribution and this time I talk about Welcoming in the New Year. I've also given some ideas on what to cook for a New Years lunch or dinner together with some photos.

Lastly I've posted a recipe for a Chocolate Biscuit Pudding. This dessert was one of my favourite childhood desserts made by my wonderful Aunty Julie. Although I may have modified the recipe substantially over the years, and now claim it as my own, she really deserves the credit for this delightful dessert!

Baked Dory Fish with Oyster Mushroom

I felt like some fish the other day and to me there is no fish that is easier to make than Dory. I like Dory fillets not only becuase they are easy to cook but also because its the kind of fish I like - with no bones at all!


I decided to keep things very simple this time and just sprinkle a little salt and pepper as well as a little sage and oregano as seasoning. I then baked the fish, wrapped in aluminium foil to seal in the flavours.

I also wanted to try pairing the Dory with Oyster mushrooms so what I did was to stir fry some Oyster Mushrooms with garlic and then placed it on a plate to act as a 'bed' for the fish. This way, I wanted the mushrooms to be eaten together with the fish rather than as a side dish.

Finally, I used the juices that ran out from the fish to make a very light sauce. I just added in about a teaspoon of lemon juice and served this separately. The kids liked the lemon sauce but I dont think it was really needed as the fish paired very nicely with the mushrooms and was delicious on its own.

Beef Nachos

Aaah! Beef Nachos. One of my favourite appetizers to make. I just love the taste medley of corn chips, beef, capsicum and tomatoes all covered in cheese. Most restaurants serve their Nacho's individually meaning each corn chip is covered with meat and cheese while the tomatoes and in some cases avocado and sour cream are provided as condiments.

I prefer to throw mine all together and then scoop them out with a spoon and dump it on a plate. Then use your fingers to enjoy the goodness while licking your lips (and fingers!) after each mouthful.

My nachos are fairly easy to make and this is the recipe:
1 onion
3 cloves garlic
1 tsp oregano
1 tsp basil
350g Minced Beef
1 large packet corn chips (In Malaysia, I use Chacho's Cheese flavoured)
250g block of Cheddar Cheese
1 green capsicum - diced
2 -3 tomatoes - diced
Salt
Black Pepper

Method
Chop Onions and garlic. Heat oil and fry Oregano and Basil. Add in onions and garlic and fry well. Add in beef and cook till well browned
Layer baking pan with corn chips. Cover with a layer of shredded cheese
Cover with beef then with tomatoes and capsicum followed by cheese.
Repeat and Finish off with layer of shredded cheese
Bake in a 190 oven for 20 minutes of till cheese is melted




Very easy and the Lovely Wife together with kids just adore this! You can substitute the beef for chicken or even lamb. Experiment with different flavoured corn chips if you like or add some mozzarella cheese for more gooey goodness!

Rosemary Chicken Salad with Honey Mustard Dressing

I've been putting on a bit of weight and since turning 40, have decided to look after my food intake a little bit more. That kind of implies that I used to look after it before, and that isn't very true! So, I'm going to try to start looking after my food intake and hopefully shed a few kilos in the process.
With that noble thought in mind, last weekend the Lovely Wife and I combined our talents to produce this wickedly delicious dish. We both love the salads that are served at Chillis Restaurants and so we decided to make our own version.


Often at restaurants, the chicken is fried in batter before being cut into strips. In an effort to try and be healthy, I decided I would roast the chicken strips instead. But how to give it lots of flavour?

This is when I decided to sautee some onions to caramelise them. I then threw in some garlic and lots of oregano and basil as well as black pepper. Then I tossed the chicken strips into this mixture, sprinkled it with some salt and layed it out in a baking tray to roast. I roasted the chicken till the juices that came out of the chicken had evaporated but the chicken was lovely, tender and juicy on the inside.

Once the chicken was cooked, the Lovely Wife prepared the salad leaves, capsicum and tomatoes and her lovely, lovely dressing. She has a knack for throwing together the most wonderful salad dressings and this time she didn't disappoint. Her Honey Mustard dressing was really wonderful. Not too thick or creamy either!


We really enjoyed this Chicken Salad and I was quite amazed at how quick and easy it was to throw together. The kids loved it too!

Wholemeal Bread Rolls

This Saturday, I woke up with the yearning to bake some bread. Yes, there's nothing wrong with your eyes and neither have you accidentally gone to another blog. It's true. I suddenly felt the need to bake some bread.
The need wasn't to just bake some bread, but to eat some home baked bread too. I think I am finally understanding that home baked bread tastes so much better, even though it takes a whole lot of work. I think all the recent breadmaking has made me yearn to make more bread and better bread.

So anyway, early Saturday morning, I decided I was going to use the leftover Wholemeal flour that I had from the Daring Bakers challenge to make some Wholemeal bread. I had been looking aroung for a few recipes and found one that didn't look too difficult over at cookitsimply.com.
I halved the recipe and decided to make some rolls rather than a full loaf. I must say that after baking bread a few times, I AM finally getting the hang of it and I do know, intuitively, when enough flour and/or water has been added. This time, I think I did a pretty good job and the rolls turned out rather delicious!
I think I may had added a little too much flour this time because the rolls were not as soft inside as I would have liked. Nonetheless, they were still very, very tasty. I paired the bread with some eggplant dip that I made and it was very well received. The eggplant dip was just two eggplants roasted in the oven and then pureed in the food processor with a little garlic, lemon juice, basil and cayenne pepper.


This is the recipe for the Wholemeal Rolls:


4 cups plain white flour
4 cups wholemeal plain flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon sugar
4 teaspoons active dry yeast
2 1/2 cups water
1 tablespoon butter
milk

Method
1. Blend the two flours and sift.
2. Add any grist left in sifter to flour.
3. Mix half the flour, the salt and sugar in a warm mixing bowl, stir in yeast.
4. Heat butter or lard with 1 cup water, add remaining water and cool to lukewarm.
5. Add to dry ingredients.
6. Beat 2 minutes on mixer or 300 strokes by hand.
7. Blend in remaining flour and knead to a soft, elastic dough.
8. Allow to double in size, knead, shape and prove a second time.
9. When loaves have risen brush tops with milk and sprinkle on cracked wheat if used.
10. Bake in a moderately hot oven 190-200°C (375-400°F) for 35 to 40 minutes.

Wholemeal bread rolls
1. Divide half the dough into 20 pieces after first proving.
2. Roll each into a ball and place on greased baking trays.
3. Cover and leave in a warm place until doubled in size.
4. Brush with milk and sprinkle with cracked wheat.
5. Bake in a moderately hot oven 190-200°C (375-400°F) for 15 to 20 minutes.
serving amount - makes two loaves

Strangely enough, I had to bake my rolls for about 30 minutes as when I took one out after the allocated time, it was still uncooked inside.
So, it appears that just like with anything, a recipe is NOT foolproof. Oven temperatures differ, flour differs and even environmental conditions such as temperature and humidity seem to make a difference. And I suppose therein lies the secret to making good bread - experience.
I am proud to say that I think I am slowly getting the hang of bread making and am also actually starting to enjoy it.
The best part however was that for the very first time, the lovely wife truly enjoyed my bread. As she devoured the second roll, she smiled at me, battered her eyelids rather coyly and remarked that the rolls were of "restaurant standard!"


Ahhh. One reason less to go out for a meal....!