I’ve never been a baker. I’m a soup maker but I’m not much of a baker.
The idea of a hot oven, a bunch of oily bowls (the aftermath of creaming butter and sugar etc) and washing up – well, that’s not really my idea of a good afternoon.
But I had made a promise. You see, when you make promises, you keep them. And so I was guilty because I had bought the needed ingredients but had yet to make good on my promise.
Ah well. On Saturday night, around 10.30pm, I dug out all my baking implements. The good thing about living by oneself (sans parents lah) is that I can do whatever I want, at whatever time I choose.
I can imagine what my Mum would say if I did this at home, in Banting. She’d ask me why do I have to start baking late at night. Baking for Mum is an activity to be done in the daytime. (My sis, Mei, also does late-night baking. I guess it’s a sudden whim thing or a craving suddenly for something to eat. She makes caramel puddings at midnight; I just bake!)
As I am such an amateur baker, I don’t even have a handmixer. I just roll up my sleeves and cream butter and sugar by hand. The only other person I know who does this is my Auntie Cheng Moy but she’s a seasoned baker and she has her Kenwood mixer but she just does not use it. I’m not trying to best her; I haven’t really thought of buying a handmixer so that shows how often I bake.
This time, I got a simple chocolate chip cookie recipe off this Singaporean woman’s blog because it looked deceptively simple!
All I had to do was to cream 150 gm of butter with 1 cup brown sugar, then add in 1 beaten egg and 2 teaspoons vanilla extract. After that, add in 1 cup plain flour (with 1 teaspoon baking soda added and sifted) together with 2 cups organic oats and 1 cup chocolate chips. Spoon tablespoonfuls of the cookie dough onto the baking tray and bake for 20 minutes at 180 degrees Centigrade.
Wasn’t it easy? (If it is complicated, I wouldn’t have jotted the recipe down. *grin*)
Anyway, the results: hmmm, large, soft and chewy chocolate chip cookies.
Nic told me it was a bit sweet but I think the extra sweetness comes from the chocolate chips (I used those from Silverbird). My cookies were a bit burnt on their bottoms. OKlah, this is my first time baking cookies, so a bit of a give-and-take. Next round, I would probably give these cookies 10 minutes bottom heat and 10 minutes top heat.
If you have a Cookie Monster at home (which I have), you can try out these cookies and see if your cookie monster likes it. You can also add raisins or nuts if you want too just for variation.
Sounds simple enough. I too am a sucker for easy- peasy recipes . Recently I attended a cooking demo by Emmual Stroobant ( The Chef in Black ). Hs Chocolate Mendiant recipe was so easy he said ‘it was stupid’ 😉 All you need to do is to melt a bar of chocolate ( i used Valhorna dark chocolate bar) and using a spoon to make discs from the melted chocolate onto plates wrapped with cling film. Top these discs with nuts and dried fruits ( i used dried cherries and pine nuts) , cool ithese immediately in the chiller compartment and 20 minutes later, viola! You have a bunch of yummy-licous chocolate desserts that your guests will just swoon over;-) Trust me, it’s that simple!
Hi Tze: Hey thanks for the recipe. Yes, it’s simple enough for me to make. 😉