Choco Almond Cookies

Choco chip cookies is one of the most famous cookies that ever existed. Who doesn't like this delicious cookies. It is crunchy outside and chewy inside with half melted chocolate chips on all around the cookies. I like it. It's perfect to be served with hot tea, coffee, or even ice cream. This chocolate chips cookies is originated from United States which was traditionally made from a dough contained butter, brown sugar, white sugar, and chocolate chips. Nowadays, this choco chip cookies have been improved and modified a lot. There are a lot of variants besides chocolate chips such as choco-macademia, choco-dried cranberry, white chocolate chips, or even M&M's. 

Few weeks ago, using a basic chocolate chip cookies that I have, I wanted to combine it with sliced almond. I still had some sliced almond left on my kitchen. I think it's a good combination.  For my cookies, i would not use any chocolate chips but I will use chopped chocolate easter eggs instead. I still have plenty of easter chocolate and no one eat it anymore. So, why don't make them useful.

It's very easy to make. Even my son  helped me to sprinkle some almond on the top of the cake. (Some of it disappeared on his mouth) When i put the dough into the oven my house smelled like a bakery. It smells so good. And when it's done, my kids could not wait to dig it in. They kept peeking into the oven to watch the dough slowly melted and spreading because of the heat during the baking process. Definitely would make this cookie again next time.

Ingredients :

• 225 grams All purpose flour
• 150 grams room temperature unsalted butter
• 70 grams brown sugar
• 60 grams white granulated sugar
• 1 large egg
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 120 grams chopped dark chocolate or chocolate chips
• 120 grams sliced almond
• 30 grams sliced almond for additional sprinkles (optional)

(Tip :  Feel free to increase the amount of chocolate chip up to 200 grams if you want to have cookies with a lot of chocolate on it. )

Preparation :

1. Preheat oven for 190 C (374 F)
2. Prepare a baking sheet and line it with baking paper. Set aside.
3. In a big bowl, mix together butter, brown sugar, and white sugar.
4. Beat them together until creamy.
5. Add egg and vanilla extract and beat them again.
6. Add flour, baking powder, and salt into the mixture and beat them together.
7. Add chocolate chip and sliced almond into the dough, and mix fold them with a spatula until all the chocolate and almond are evenly distributed.
8. Take about 1- 1 1/2 tsp of dough, with 2 spoon form it into a ball, and drop it on the prepared baking sheet. Leave enough space between each dough ball to allow the cookies spreading during the baking.
9. Sprinkle some more sliced almond on the top of the dough. 
10. Put the dough into the preheated oven and bake them for about 15 minutes or until the cookies become golden brown (Tip : increase the baking time about 3-5 minutes of you want to get more crispy and crunchy cookies).
11. Take the baking sheet out of the oven and transfer the cookies into the cooling rack.
12. Let them cool completely.

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Tuna Pancake Roll

I made this Tuna-Pancake Roll few weeks ago (it was last month I think). I never made this kind of dish before and I was surprised that it was more than edible. It was good!! I usually eat pancake for breakfast with some sugar or honey or with some bacon or sliced fruits. Any kind of topping I want. But I never tried to fill it with something and roll it like this.

It is a pancake filled with tuna and mixed vegetables, roll it, and bake it in the oven. It's easy, simple, and kind of unique for me. Even better, people who doesn't have electric oven can make this one as well as long as they have oven toaster.

Actually, the story begin on few weeks ago, when i was doing some shopping with my kids on a local grocery store, my daughter saw a flyer recipe suggestion over there. She took it and asked me if i could make it for her. She assumed that it must be delicious because she read "kids favoriet" on the bottom of the recipe. Well, most of the recipe with those note are usually acceptable and friendly for children.

It has a short recipe on the back of this flyer.

I read the recipe, and it seems easy and affordable. It's good idea for a dinner and beside, i still had some canned tuna at home and some vegetables. I just needed to buy some ready to eat pancake and some other small ingredients. (oh yeah!! Those time I was too lazy to make the pancake by myself.) So, let's get started :)

Ingredients :

• 2 can of canned tuna in olive oil
• 6 whole wheat pancake (Tip : It's a dutch pancake or we call it pannenkoek, not an American pancake)
• 150 grams broccoli, chopped into small pieces
• 100 grams carrots, chopped into small cubes
• white part of 1 leek, thinly sliced
• 3 green onions, thinly sliced
• 150 grams creme fraiche
• 100 grams grated cheese
• some coriander leaves
• salt and pepper

Preparation :

1. Preheat the oven for 180 C (356 F)
2. Take and heat about 3 tbs of oil from canned tuna in a pan.
3. Put all the chopped broccoli and carrot and saute them for about 1 minute or until the vegetables start to become tender.
4. Add sliced leeks and green onion into the pan and stir them again.
5. Drain the tuna from its oil.
6. Add the tuna into the pan and stir it until the tuna is mixed well with the vegetable.
7. Turn off the heat and let it cooled a little bit.
8. Prepare the pancake in a plate or another flat surface.
9. Take about 3-4 tbs tuna mix and put it on the top of pancake. 
10. Roll the pancake and wrap the tuna.
11. Put it on the baking dish with the seam side down. (Tip:  If you do not have a big enough baking dish you can make by yourself a disposable baking dish using aluminium foil and put it on the baking tray)
12. Repeat the process with another pancake and tuna mix.
13. Take about 1 tbs creme fraiche, put on the top of the rolled pancake and spread it just until to cover the pancake.
14. Add some grated cheese on the top of it and sprinkle some chopped coriander leaves.
    
15. Put it into the oven (near the top part of the oven) and bake it for about 5-10 minutes or until the cheese is melted.
16. Remove it from the oven and garnish with freshly chopped coriander and chili pepper.
    
17. Serve it hot with roasted or fried potato and some chili sauce if you like.

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Creamy Tuna Pasta

Yeah. It's good to be back!!

I've been very busy lately which has made me barely had a time to write something in here. My daughter's ballet recital, first communion, etc. Not mentioning all the preparation for all those events. Well, now they're all over and I think it's time to sit and write something in here.

This time, I would like to share one of my favorite pasta recipe. Creamy Tuna Pasta. My husband is tuna lover and my daughter is a pasta lover. If my daughter wants to have pasta for dinner, I mostly make spaghetti bolognese. It's easy and simple to make. Basically, I only need ground beef, onion, and bolognese sauce from a jar. It taste delicious at the first time (I was not really good at cooking back than). But after many times, I get bored with it and want to try something else.

Inspired by one of Pizza Hut's menu in Indonesia, fusilli tuna pedas (fusilli with spicy tuna). By combining my husband and my daughter's favorite food,  I tried to create a similar menu, pasta with tuna sauce. After all cutting, and sauteing all the ingredients, it's time to taste the result. Yum!!  It was not disappointing at all. :-)

Ingredients :

• 250 grams short pasta (I'm using fusilli)
• 1 can (185 grams) of canned tuna in oil
• 1 medium shallot (about 3 Indonesian shallots), minced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 3 tomatoes, cut into small cubes
• 1/2 red paprika, cut into small pieces
• 1/2 green paprika, cut into small pieces
• 60 ml heavy cream
• 40 ml milk
• 6 tbs tomato sauce
• 5 tbs sweet chili sauce
• 1/8 tsp nutmeg
• salt and black pepper
• 3/4 tsp tabasco (optional)
• Some grated cheese

Tip : Feel free to add some vegetables on the sauce. You can add carrot, zucchini, mushroom, broccoli, etc. Just make sure they are sauteed well. 

Preparation :

1. Fill in a big pot with water (until 2/3 of the way) and bring it to boil.
2. Once it's boiled, add some salt and the paste into the water.
3. Boil the pasta and pay attention to the cooking direction on the package to make sure the pasta is cooked well.
4. Meanwhile, in a big pan, preheat about 6 tbs oil from canned tuna and discard the rest of the oil from the can.
5. Saute minced shallot and garlic until they become aromatic.
6. Add paprika and tomatoes cubes and stir until they become soft and the tomatoes start to release all the juice.
7. Add tomato sauce, sweet chili sauce, heavy cream, milk, nutmeg, and tabasco (optional), and stir again.
8. Add tuna into the sauce and mix it well.
9. Add salt and ground black pepper into the sauce, stir, and reduce the heat.
10. At this point, the pasta should be done and cooked well.
11. Drain the pasta and add them into the sauce.
12. Mix the pasta and the sauce together.
13. Turn off the heat.
14. Serve the pasta on a plate and add some grated cheese on top.

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Mini Custard Cream Horns

Did you ever miss or want to eat something that maybe you did not really like before? That what happened to me last week. I suddenly got an urge to eat custard cream horn. I know it was not my favorite snack. I still remember when I was a little girl, my mother used to buy some of Indonesian traditional snack from a local market. She usually bought more than one kind of snacks so I and my sister could choose which one that we want to eat. I never pick custard cream horn. I mostly pick a savory snack instead this sweet custard cream snack. No special reason. Actually a custard cream horn is a delicious snack. It is a horn shaped puff pastry  filled in with vanilla custard cream. For those who has sweet tooth (like my husband), this can be a good snack. It is sweet and crispy outside but soft and creamy inside.

Well, because of my sudden urge to eat this sweet horns, I decided to make it by myself. I already have ready to use puff pastry on my freezer and the horn mold that I ordered from Indonesia last year. But there's a big BUT. I'm going to make my custard cream horn in small size.  My custard horn will have only about half of the size of normal custard cream horn. Personally, I prefer this mini size horns because it is easier to eat (especially for my baby son), more crispy, and..... hmm... I don't know. I just like it. ^^

First, I need to make the horns.

Tip : You can make the horns one day before making the filling. Just let it cool completely, and keep it in a airtight container to keep it crispy and crunchy.

Ingredients : ( for making about 65 mini horns)

• 5 layer ready to use puff pastry (I'm using 20x20 cm ready to use puff pastry)
• 1 egg, beaten
• about 100 gram white granulated sugar
• 20 grams butter

Preparation :

1. Preheat oven for 200 C (392 F)
2. Prepare a baking sheet and line it up with baking paper. Set aside.
3. Prepare horn molds and grease it with butter generously. Set aside.
4. Cut the puff pastry into small stripes. (About 1.5 cm wide for each stripe) 
5. Take one of greased horn mold and wrap the pastry around the mold. Make sure to overlap the pastry a little bit for each round and press it gently at the end of the strips. 
6. Repeat the process until all the mold are used.
7. Place the wrapped horn on the baking sheet.
8. Brush the surface of the pastry with beaten egg.
9. Sprinkle or roll carefully some granulated sugar on the top of the horns.
10. Put the baking sheet into the oven and bake it for about 13-15 minutes or until the pastry become golden brown.
11. Take it out from oven and let it cool completely before starting the filling process. 

Tip : If you can not make the horn in one batch and have to reuse the mold after the previous batch, do not forget to grease the mold with butter again before wrap it with another pastry strip.

Now, let's make the filling. 

Ingredients :

• 250 ml milk
• 2 egg yolks
• 20 grams granulated sugar
• 25 grams corn starch
• 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Preparation :

1. In a pot, mix together about 150 ml milk with granulated sugar.
2. Turn on the heat, stir, and simmer on low heat until the sugar are dissolved.
3. Meanwhile, in a bowl, whisk together the rest of the milk with egg yolk, corn starch, and vanilla extract.
4. Whisk until there's no more cornstarch lump.
5. Pour the cornstarch mixture into the pot.
6. Stir and cook the mixture with medium heat until the custard is thickened. (Tip : Be careful not to burn the custard).
7. Turn off the heat and transfer the custard into a shallow bowl.
8. Cover it with plastic wrap and let it cool completely.
9. Once the custard is not hot anymore, open the plastic wrap, and stir once more.
10. Pour the custard into a pipping bag and cut the tip.
11. Fill the horn by pipping the custard into the horn.

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Edible Easter Basket

Happy Easter everyone!! May this Easter spirit gives you all a new hope, faith, spirit, love, and joy. To celebrate Easter this year I've made this cute edible Easter basket because I was getting a little bit bored with painted and decorated boiled egg as usual. So, I made this as a treat for my daughter, son, and some of my daughter's friends.

Actually, the first plan was to make a mini paper basket like the one that I've made for my daughter's birthday treats years ago. I would fill those basket with small chocolate easter candies and chocolates. But like as usual, during the process, I found a nice video tutorial how to make an edible easter basket. It's easier to do (than rolling a lot of papers and weave it into a small basket) and i have almost all of the ingredients available in my kitchen. Beside, I think this could be a good experiment to learn how to deal with chocolate because it's a little bit tricky for me. I still need to learn how to melt and tempering chocolate properly so it wont be melted on the room temperature.

And, this is what I need to do. First, I need to make the strap for the basket.  I was using strawberry candy stripes for the strap (Those are the only candy that I had). The candy was too thin so I made a braid out of it.

This braided candy strips is stronger than single candy strip. But still too weak and can not stand properly. So, I decided to cover it with melted chocolate and put it on refrigerator for about 10 minutes to harden the chocolate.

Now,it's time to make the basket. I just pour about 2 tsp melted chocolate into a muffin paper cup and with a toothpick make the outer of the chocolate basket. .

Now, assemble the strap with the basket and put in in a refrigerator for about 10-15 minutes.  After the chocolate is hardened, carefully peel the paper cup from the chocolate and fill it in with some cute easter chocolate candy. It's cute, isn't it?

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