Kuih Makmur

I have had loads of first-time bakes this year and the experiences that I have encountered have taught me to be a better baker, one year on (since I moved into my new place and have a proper oven!). Am really glad to have this platform where I can share the lessons learnt from my blunders in the kitchen and to allow all of you to try the 'tried and tested' recipes! ^_^ If only I have more time in hand...I will bake, bake, bake, bake! Problem is, who is gonna be my guinea pig??hahahah!

Anyhoo, back to the entry proper....'Kuih' is a Malay word that simply translates to: a general term that may be used to describe cookies, cakes, pastries and delicacies. 'Makmur' on the other hand means prosperity. So simply put, 'kuih makmur' is a "prosperity cookie" baked during the festive season. The former is rather apt coz you would want to wish everyone prosperity during the festivities!=) 'Kuih makmur' has a melt-in-the-mouth outer texture with a peanut filling and covered with icing sugar before serving.

I tried to bake kuih makmur for the Eid season last month during Ramadhan (fasting month for the Muslims) 'coz I have always loved eating kuih makmur. But it is rather difficult to find a good kuih makmur 'coz I like the ones that are not too big, generous amount of peanut fillings, melt in the mouth, no weird after-tastes, delicious taste of butter and of course, no burnt fillings please!! Heh! So, what better way to reach my makmur satiety than to bake them myself!heehee!

It was a very hands-on cookie so pardon me for the lack of pictures 'coz I didn't wanna get the stuffs around me all sticky! The recipe that I have used is my own, put together just to suit my personal preference! Here goessss!=)

Ingredients
Skin
1. 500g all purpose flour
2. 200g ghee
3. 50g butter
4. green food colouring (optional)
5. icing sugar

Filling
1. 400g roasted and chopped groundnuts
2. 200g of peanut butter
3. 2-3 tablespoons of castor sugar
(Mix and set aside)

Method
1. Dry-fry (without oil) the flour till slightly crispy
2. Melt ghee and butter and leave it to cool slightly
3. Add the ghee+butter solution into the flour bit by bit, knead to form a dough firm enough to work with
(Do not have to use up all of the ghee+butter mixture and you can add the colouring at this stage if you wish)
4. Preheat oven for 10mins at 160-170 Degree Celcius
5. Pinch a ball of dough, place filling into the centre and shape it into a leaf
6. Use a roller to form the leave indents (roll lightly), you can use the pincer but I do not have one so I modified mine!ehehehe!
7. Grease the tray before placing the 'kuih makmur' onto it
8. Bake till cooked
9. After cooling, sprinkle icing sugar and serve

Ready to be baked!^_^

Added too much of the liquid that the skin was quite thin! That's why the filling can be seen from this angle

Close-up

Baked and expanded

Good enough to eat on its own without the icing sugar



All readddyyy!! Woohoooo!

*** Flour is dry-fried to make it lighter and to attain the melt-in-the-mouth texture

*** The 'kuih makmur'  will expand slightly after baking so do not mould it too big else, it'll be too huge and will also look less appealing!

*** Store in an air-tight container


 A rather simple recipe so do try it out! Good luck! =)

Gingerbread with hazelnut ganache

This was actually baked during the fasting month. I didn't want the common chocolate almond and so tweaked a recipe that I have and turned it into theseeeee!! ehehehe! The recipe was for a gingerbread man that I baked for a school event (will post the pics soon I hope!;p), changed it a little here and there, added hazelnut and created my own ganache and voila!

It was a very crunchy cookie but it wasn't quite a favourite for many; maybe because of the spices but I love it all the same!eheheheh! I can't remember where I got the recipe from but it was online and basically most of the gingerbread recipes were similar. Don't really know why the chocolate ganache was not the "dry" kind, will try to find out and post it here!

Meanwhile, do try out this recipe!;p

Ingredients

Cookie Dough

(Get ready aluminium cups)

- 21/2 cups of all purpose flour

- 1 cup of granulated sugar

- 1 teaspoon of baking soda

- 1/2 cup of powdered hazelnut

- whole hazelnuts for the middle of the cookie

- 1 teaspoon of powdered cinnamon

- 1 teaspoon of powdered ginger

- 1 teaspoon of powdered spices (5 spices, usually comes in a bottle so you don't have to literally find 5 different spices!)

- 2 eggs

Hazelnut Ganache

- some powdered hazelnut

- 1 cup of heavy whipping cream

- 1 cup of baking chocolate

- 1 teaspoon of vanilla essence

- 1 cup of sugar

- 1/2 cup butter

Method

- mix everything (except whole hazelnuts) to form cookie dough

- heat up oven at 180 Degree Celcius for 10 minutes

- take a whole hazelnut, roll it into a small ball of cookie dough and press it down into aluminium cups

- bake for 10-15 minutes (not too long or it will be very hard)

*** if not too sure whether cookies are baked, insert a small toothpick in the middle. If it comes out clean, ur cookies are done. Don't panic if cookies seem soft coz it will hardened when cooled***

- cool cookies

- for ganache: melt butter with chocolate

- remove from double boiler and stir in the rest of the ingredients till well-mixed

- lastly, pour over the cooled cookies and put in the fridge

- serve the next day!

*** keeps for a month in the fridge, not longer than that! else you will have to eat green, mouldy cookies instead!hehehhe!***

Happy trying!!=)))