Marbled Butter Cookies

There are thick and thin types of butter cookies. To keep the shape of piped butter cookies, you will need relatively higher amount of flour or little amount of butter. The structure of cookies comes from flour, to bake thinner butter cookies, that spread out during baking, you need to use more butter. Use quality butter to make those cookies, because they do make a difference.

1. Preheat the oven to 190C/375F. Line the baking tray with parchment paper and sift the flour. Cut the unsalted butter into the smaller pieces and let soften to room temperature in a mixing bowl. Beat together the egg and milk in a small bowl.
   
2. Beat the butter until soft and smooth. Add in confectioners’ sugar and continue beating until fluffy and light. Whip in egg milk mixture in 3 additions, beating well between each addition, and the vanilla extract until well combined. Gradually fold in the sifted flour and mix until just moistened. Excessive mixing and stirring could cause the batter difficult to pipe out and the cookies would turn out hard.
   
3. Spoon the batter into a piping bag with a star nozzle and pipe into the moulds onto the prepared tray, leaving 2cm between cookies. Bake on the top shelf in the preheated oven for about 15 minutes until the edges of the cookies starts turning golden. Remove and cool them on a rack. Store the cookies in a airtight container they have cooled completely.

A creamy, flavourful and rich treat. The addition of coconut flakes simply enhances the taste of these peanut butter cookie squares.

1. Preheat the oven to 190C/375F. Soften the butter at the room temperature. Beat in caster sugar and vanilla sugar until smooth. Add in egg yolk and whip on high speed until thick and smooth. Sift in flour, ground hazelnut and coconut shreds. Mix all the ingredients with your hand until a dough forms.
2. Line a baking tray with parchment paper. Place on the cookie dough, top with the plastic film and roll it out to a 28x25cm rectangle. Prick the entire surface with a fork and bake on the top shelf in the preheated oven for about 18 minutes.
3. Mix together the peanut butter and egg whites until combined. Sift in the confectioners’ sugar until smooth. Once the crust is done, remove from the oven and reduce the temperature to 160C/320F. Spread the peanut butter mixture on the top of the baked crust. Return it to the oven and bake for 25 minutes. Remove and cut into squares.

Taro balls can be reheated by frying in fairly hot oil for 1 minute or 175C/350F hot oven for 15 minutes.

1. Steam the taro till soft, about 15 minutes. Mash with a fork until smooth while hot. Add in potato starch, sugar, salt and oil. Mix well.
2. Using 1 tablespoon of mashed taro to make a oval-shaped balls. Pat the balls with cornstarch. Heat the oil until it reaches 160C/320F. Lower the taro balls in the hot oil and fry until golden brown. Remove, drain and serve.

Many cuisines have their own lemon chicken, this one carries a sweet and sour tang and perfect for a family gathering.

1. Cut the chicken breast in half. Combine marinade ingredients in a bowl. Mix the chicken breast with marinade and set aside for 15 minutes.
   
2. Heat some oil in a large skillet to 190C/375F. Coat the chicken breast halves with cornstarch and fry until golden, about 5 minutes. Drain and then cut into serving size pieces and arrange on a serving platter.
   
3. Combine all sauce ingredients in a medium saucepan and mix well. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until sauce boils and thickens, about 5 minutes. Take out the lemon slices to put on the chicken first, then pour the sauce over. Garnish with shredded spring onions if desired.

This is the classic Italian almond macaroon. Crunchy and chewy Amaretti cookies are made from either ground almonds or almond paste, along with sugar and egg whites and optionally flavored with Italian almond liqueur Amaretto.

• 300 g Almonds, ground
• 30 ml Amaretto liqueurangiesrecipes
  
• 300 g Sugar
  
• 100 g / 3 Egg whites, large
  
• Confectioners’ sugar fur dusting

1. Preheat oven to 150C/300F. Place parchment paper on baking trays lightly brushed with oil. Combine ground almond and sugar together in a bowl. Beat the egg whites until firm and gradually fold into the almond mixture until combined. Add the amaretto liquor and fold in gently until you have a smooth paste.
   
2. Fill the pastry bag with the almond mixture. Pipe even mounds onto the parchment paper, spacing mounds 2 cm apart as they will expand during the baking process. Bake for 25 minutes in the preheated oven until golden. Remove from the oven and dust with confectioners’ sugar while still warm. Allow them to cool a bit and then remove from the tray.

Ubi, served as a potato dish as well as an ingredient, is the Filipino word for purple yam. Its flesh is a marbled violet color and is well-known for its aroma.

1. Prepare the ubi dough by placing all the ingredients except butter in a mixing bowl. Mix with dough hook at slow speed for 1 minute. Switch the speed to medium and continue mixing until a dough forms. Add butter gradually and mix for approx. 5 minutes on medium speed until gluten is fully developed, i. e. elastic, smooth, non-sticky and leave from sides of mixing bowl. Prepare the light dough at the same way.
   
2. Place the two doughs in two lightly greased plastic bags separately and let rise for about 45 minutes at the warm area. Once they are doubled in bulk, punch down and allow the dough, covered, to rest on a lightly floured work surface for 10 minutes.
   
3. Roll out each dough to a rectangle, about 22x10cm. Place purple taro dough atop the light and roll up tightly, beginning at short side. Place in a greased 26cm loaf pan. Cover and let rise till double in bulk, 45 to 60 minutes. Bake at 170C/340F for 30-35 minutes or until done. Remove from pan and let cool on a wire rack.

Feuilletage [fuh-yuh-TAHZH] French for "flaky" or "puff pastry".

1. Whisk the egg and sugar in a bowl until almost white. Mix in the flour and pudding powder. Pour the milk into a heavy bottom saucepan. Split the vanilla bean in half lengthwise and scrape the seeds into the milk, add the pod as well. Bring the milk to a boil and remove from the heat. Carefully pour about 1/2 cup of the hot milk into the egg mixture while whisking constantly. Return the whole mixture into the saucepan, stir to the boil, for about 1 to 2 minutes while whisking constantly and vigorously. Remove from the heat and strain the pastry cream with a fine sieve into a clean bowl. pour into a clean bowl. Sprinkle the top with a little castor sugar to prevent a skin forming.
   
2. Preheat the oven to 220C/450F. Roll out the pastry 2 mm thick into an even-sided square onto a baking tray lined with parchment paper. Use tines of fork to pierce the pastry crust many times. Cut in half and then cut each half in two to form four even rectangles. Bake for 15-20 minutes, turn the strips over after 10 minutes. Allow to cool. Spread pastry cream on one strip, place another strip on top and spread with jam. Place the third strip on top and spread with pastry cream. Top with the last strip, flat side up. Press down firmly with a flat tray.
3. Cut white chocolate courverture into the smaller pieces and place them in a heat-proof bowl. Bring a saucepan of water to a boil, then remove from the heat. Stir the bowl over the pan, making sure the bottom of bowl does not touch the water. Stir constantly until the chocolate has melted. Separate some white chocolate and place in paper cornet. Melt the dark chocolate at the same way and place in paper cornet. Pour the rest of white chocolate over the pastry in an even coat. Immediately pipe dark chocolate lengthwise in strips 1 cm apart. Quickly pipe on the reserved white chocolate in between. With the back of a small knife, wiping after each stroke, mark down the slice at 2 cm intervals. Turn the slice around and repeat in the same direction with strokes in between the previous ones. Allow to set and trim the edges neatly and cut into even portions.

© 2009 | http://angiesrecipes.blogspot.com

1. Blend the flour, ground almond, baking powder, baking soda, salt and vanilla sugar together in a bowl. In another bowl, whisk together yogurt, milk, and egg yolk. Blend into the flour mixture just until all ingredients are moistened.
2. Beat egg white until stiff. Fold into the batter until well incorporated. Melt a small amount of butter in a pan or skillet on the medium heat. Add 3 tablespoons batter into the skillet, tilt skillet to spread slightly. When bubbles are popping about 2 to 3 minutes, turn over and cook the other side until browned, about 2 minutes longer.

© 2009 | http://angiesrecipes.blogspot.com