Hello Cookie: Salted White Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies

At first, this seems to be an unusual recipe because it takes traditional cookie goodness such as oats, sugar and white chocolate, and combines it with a touch of salt. Not that unusual, though, when you consider the popularity of fleur de sel caramels and salted caramel sauce.

That said, these salted white chocolate oatmeal cookies are absolutely wonderful. They look like Anzac biscuits but have a crunchy texture that is at odds with its chewy-looking exterior. Plus that hint of salt, love it. And they aren’t that rich, either – I managed to scoff 5 of them in no time at all!

By the way, the recipe says it will make 24. I used the exact ingredients and rolled the cookie balls as specified, and I ended up with 50. No matter, even more reason to nibble another one…

The original recipe is from SmittenKitchen.com and my metric conversions are in brackets below.

Salted White Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies

Makes about 50

Ingredients
1 cup all-purpose (plain) flour
¾ teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon table salt
14 tablespoons (198.6 grams) unsalted butter, slightly softened
1 cup sugar
¼ cup packed light brown sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 ½ cups rolled oats (I used quick oats)
6 ounces (170.25 grams) good-quality white chocolate, chopped
½ teaspoon flaky sea salt (like Maldon or fleur de sel), for sprinkling on top

Method
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees (175 deg C). Line baking sheet with baking paper.

2. Sift flour, baking powder, baking soda, and table salt into a medium bowl.

3. Beat butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Scrape down bowl with rubber spatula, then add egg and vanilla and beat until incorporated. Scrape down bowl again. Add flour mixture gradually and mix until just incorporated and smooth. Gradually add oats and white chocolate and mix until well incorporated.

4. Roll about 2 tablespoons of the dough into balls, then place on lined baking sheets about 2 ½ inches (6cm) apart. Using fingertips, gently press down each ball to about ¾-inch (1.8cm) thickness.

5. Sprinkle a flake or two of sea salt on each cookie (I sprinkled a lot more, because I like salt!)

6. Bake until cookies are deep golden brown, about 13 to 16 minutes, rotating baking sheet halfway through. Transfer cookies to wire rack to cool.

Recipe adapted from SmittenKitchen.com

Ingredients and preparation

Press down on cookies before baking; adding a few flakes of salt

So many cookies, so little time!

Lovely!

Trip down Memory Lane: Zumbo's Berries

We know that the new Adriano Zumbo range is special, thanks to Not Quite Nigella. There are lots of new and unusual flavours that are the Zumbo trademark, and some traditional (or as traditional as Zumbo gets) as well.

So while we wait for the newies to arrive, here is a reminder of some past juicy Berry creations.

Update on cake names (top to bottom, left to right): Berry tart (April 2008), Fleur d'Fraise (Dec 2007),
Nora (Mar 2008), Berry brioche (April 2009),
Berry tart whose name I've forgotten (May 2008), Charlotte Full (Nov 2008),
Have a chat Kai! (Nov 2008)

A Mother's Day page!

As usual, I was struggling to find a gift for Mother’s Day. Fortunately, my mother and I had attended a wedding on the previous weekend, which produced some lovely photos. I was inspired by this page by the talented Tiffany, and produced my own version as a result.

I put the finished page in a white box frame, which allowed the die-cut butterflies to remain ‘wing up’. Hope mum likes it.

Supplies: Patterned paper: Bella Blvd. Cardstock: Bazzill. Die-cuts: Amy Butler. Chandelier stamp: Heidi Swapp.

Rub-ons: American Crafts. Other: Cuttlebug embossing, Fiskars Apron punch, Stampin' Up! scallop punch

Detail of page inside the frame

Tabitha cat straightening up the frame (or there was a cat treat caught underneath)

Out with the old, waiting for the new

There are only 15 nights and 14 days until the new Adriano Zumbo range is revealed. It's called '40 Days and 40 Nights in Paris' and it's out on 23rd May.

So there is only a short time to experience the favourites from the current range. My fave is 'Have a Chat Kai'. Lychees, berries and white chocolate are the perfect gift for Mother's Day, too. Though looking closely at this one I got today, it does seem a bit shrivelled..?

Hopefully one tart that will survive to fight another day is the Tarte aux fruits de la passion. Can we have more than one favourite? Yes, we can!

DIY Fried Rice

As a child, one of my favourite takeaway dishes (from a Chinese restaurant) was fried rice. Looking back, it probably wasn’t the healthiest dish, laden as it was with chopped ham, curry powder (for the yellow colour) and most likely lashings of MSG. It sure was tasty, but! And compared to my mother’s homemade version, that had beaten egg stirred through it, there was no comparison – takeaway won every time.

Fast forward to the present, and decent fried rice is harder to find, because I’m now a picky eater. Any fried rice with peas receives the ‘get lost’ treatment. Ham bits, bah, you don’t know what you’re doing! And as for curry powder – what the??

The solution is to do it yourself, so you can put in what you like and leave out the rubbish. I generally include:
- a couple of medium-large prawns (peeled green, or cooked),
- some shiitake mushrooms that have been soaked in hot water (save a tablespoon or so of the soaking water to add to the rice),
- Chinese sausage (lap cheong) or, if you’re a thrillseeker, some diced bacon (not authentic, but good), or barbequed pork (char siu)
- Chopped egg omelette that is made in the wok prior to starting the fried rice

The secret, I’ve found, is in the sauce. Combine the ingredients from the recipe below, add it to the rice, give it a quick toss and you’ll end up with perfect fried rice, ideal for the picky eater.


Fried Rice made with delectable sauce
Serves 4

Ingredients
2 eggs, lightly beaten
2 tbls vegetable oil
6 medium green prawns, peeled and quartered
2 tsp minced garlic
2 tsp minced ginger
150 g meat (Chinese sausage or BBQ pork), chopped
3 shiitake mushrooms, soaked in hot water for 20 mins, finely chopped
3 cups cooked rice
2 tbsp light soy sauce
1 tsp white sugar
2 tsp oyster sauce
1 tsp sesame oil
1 cup bean sprouts, washed and tailed

Method
1. Make the omelette by adding the eggs to the wok, turning the wok so that the egg coats the bottom and side. Cook until barely set. Remove the omelette onto a plate, roll it up and chop into 1cm slices.

2. Heat a tablespoon of vegetable oil in a wok over med-high heat, until very hot. Add the prawns and stir around until just cooked. Remove from wok and set aside.

3. Reheat the wok and add heat a tablespoon of vegetable oil until very hot. Add the garlic and ginger and stirfry for 30 seconds.

4. Add the meat and mushrooms (and soaking juice) and cook for 1 minute. Then add rice and prawns to the wok.

5. Mix the soy sauce, sugar, oyster sauce and sesame oil together in a cup, then add to the wok. Stir until rice is coated with the sauce.

6. Finally, add the chopped omelette and bean sprouts to the wok and heat through.

7. It’s ready to serve. This rice can be eaten alone (full of good stuff already) or as part of a banquet.

Alluring Cupcakes

On my recent trek to Rozelle, I picked up a bottle of rosewater because I loved its colourful label and red lid. Which then raised the question – what can you make with rosewater?

It just so happens that Gourmet Traveller magazine had a recipe for cupcakes with rose-scented icing that I had my eye on, so I made them.

The cake itself is delicious, light vanilla. The icing is supposed to have a tinge of pink colour, but it’s hard to measure out just a drop of food colouring, so mine ended up a lovely lurid bubblegum pink. The rosewater fragrance is unmistakeable and very alluring!


Rosy cupcakes
Makes 15

Ingredients
125 g softened butter
220 g (1 cup) caster sugar
1 vanilla bean, scraped seeds only
2 eggs
225 g (1½ cups) plain flour
½ tsp baking powder
125 ml (½ cup) milk

Rosy icing
240 g pure icing sugar, sifted
1-2 tsp rosewater, or to taste
1 strawberry (or 1 drop pink food colouring)

Method
1. Preheat oven to 170C.
2. Beat butter, sugar and vanilla seeds in an electric mixer until light and fluffy (2-3 minutes).
3. Add eggs one at a time, scraping down sides of bowl and beating well after each addition.
4. Sift over flour and baking powder, stir to combine, add milk and stir to combine.
5. Half-fill 15 x 80ml-capacity muffin tins lined with paper patty cases (there may be a little mixture left over).
6. Smooth tops and bake until risen and golden (10-15 minutes).
7. Remove from tins and cool on a wire rack.

For rosy icing, combine icing sugar and rosewater in a bowl. Squeeze strawberry over bowl to extract juice (discard solids) – or add the one drop of food colouring. Gradually add 20-30ml water, stirring until smooth and drizzling consistency. Spread over cakes, filling to tops of patty cases, and stand until set (4-5 minutes). Store in an airtight container until required. Cakes are best eaten on day of making.

Recipe adapted from Gourmet Traveller (April 2009)

Ingredients, including pretty rosewater; my new mixer (not Kitchenaid, alas)

Mixing the ingredients

Patty cases filled with batter; cooked but un-iced

Iced cupcakes, with rosebud centrepieces!

A Piece or Two of Deliciousness

I haven’t done many Zumbo posts lately because a) I’m waiting for the new range to come out, and b) I’m a bit caked out (never thought I’d say that, but I am).

However, the lack of cake has focused attention onto the breads and pastries at Adriano Zumbo.

So I was doing a recce at the shop today when I noticed a little basket of breads in the display counter. The cakeshop girl described them as focaccias flavoured with either potato and rosemary or goat’s cheese, caramelised onion, olives and ‘deliciousness’.

Well, who could pass up on a spot of deliciousness? Not me!

One ingredient that did not get mentioned was chilli – the focaccia is liberally sprinkled with enough chilli to blow your tongue out of your mouth. However, I am a sucker for punishment and will be back for more of this one.

I also got a berry brioche – a lovely light brioche basket filled with crème patisserie and strawberries, raspberries and blueberries and sprinkled with sweet sugar crystals. The crème was a nice relieving counterpoint to the chilli deliciousness.

And put this date in your diaries – the new Zumbo cake range will be out on Saturday 23rd May.