shiokadelicious!

Mad Midnight Cookie Capers

My apologies for the lack of posts over the last few days. I was on a business trip for most of this past week. I was away for about 140 hours or so, give and take a few hours. But over 55 of those hours were spent stuck in gloriously unexciting airplane cabins, in some wonderfully boring airport lounge, or in exhilaratingly slow-moving security lines. That accounted for nearly 40% of the trip. And the rest of the 85 hours? Well, I lost quite a few hours crossing the International Dateline. And I spent the rest of the time in stuffy hotel function rooms that were too crowded, elegant meeting rooms that all looked like each other, and fluorescent-lit offices that all looked grey. Then there was the small matter of giving in to the insistent demands of my severely sleep-deprived and time-zone-confused body for some rest. Food-wise, I got to eat airplane food, hotel food, more hotel food, and then more airplane food. Boy! Did I have an exciting trip!

And of course, all this was made totally bearable by the thought that I was merely in one of the most exciting cities in the world – New York. Urggh! Yup, that’s a good word. Urggh! It has been a few years since my last trip to the Big Apple. And that’s how I “wasted” my trip. I was hoping to have time to say “hi” to a New Yorker food-blogging friend. I had also so desperately wanted to at least pop into Williams & Sonoma and NY Cake Supplies (which Deb had mentioned before and from where I was hoping to pick up some much-wanted baking tools). Well, scrapped those ideas! Who was I kidding? As for the plan to satiate my recent near-unbearable cravings for cupcakes with a visit to Buttercup and/or Crumbs (oh, did you see their Reese’s cupcake which was pictured on NYT’s website some time back? Talk about a little piece of heaven!)… Hah! Think again! I couldn’t believe none of that happened for me. How depressing!

Anyway, Body is now back in Singapore, safe and sound. Ummm… but we seem to have left Body-Clock behind in New York. And Body is feeling kind of lost without Body-Clock. The two were inseparable, you see. One would always be with the other. They would not be parted. But something happened a few years ago. Body-Clock started to feel “less young”, and decided to give up its jet-setting lifestyle. It now baulked at having to travel vast distances across multiple time zones. It didn’t like moving around. It wanted to stay in one spot, where it was comfortable and secure in its daily routine. Therefore, much as it loved and wanted to be with Body, it did not want to cross 12 time zones, just so it could be with its beloved Body. And having been dragged, almost forcibly, by Body to New York, it was hell-bent on not being made to make a second 24-hour long journey back across another 12 time zones, all within the space of three days. Heck no! No one was making Body-Clock get on another plane. Not yet anyway. And so, Body is now back in Singapore. And Body-Clock… well, it is still in New York. And me, I am caught in the cross-fire.

Body is inextricably linked to Body-Clock. It can feel Body-Clock’s moods, emotions, thoughts and desires even when they are tens of thousands of kilometers apart. Body defers to Body-Clock in all matters, foregoing its own needs and desires. Whatever Body-Clock wants, Body-Clock gets. Yes, even when it is on the other side of the world.

It was 4am Easter Sunday morning in Singapore (where Body is). It was 4pm Saturday-before-Easter-Sunday afternoon in New York (where Body-Clock is). Body wanted to sleep. In fact, so did Mind. Both desperately craved sleep. Body-Clock however decided that it was a glorious Saturday afternoon – a perfect time to do something exciting. So, here in Singapore, Body picked up on Body-Clock’s vibes, and despite the hollers of protestations from Mind, Body decided it was the perfect time to do some baking. Yep, baking. Oh, did I mention it was 4am in Singapore?

Well, what Body-Clock wanted and what Body has decided, Mind and Renee had to follow. So, we baked. At 4am in the morning.

Mind, having resigned itself to the thought of baking, decided it wanted to bake a cake. But Renee, the one remaining sane voice in this midnight madness, reminded Body and Mind that cranking up an electric mixer at 4am in the morning was NOT a good idea. Not unless we wanted the neighborhood policemen to drop by and invite themselves in for a cuppa, taste-test our cake and thereafter to offer us a serious “discussion” on the foibles of using electric stand mixers at 4am in the morning.

Okay, how about hot cross buns then? Perfect for Easter morning breakfast, no? Nah… Mind knew full well that Renee was not much of a bread maker. And messing around with bread dough, albeit a very simple bread dough, in the wee hours of the morning did not sound like a good idea at all. Finally, Mind, Body and Renee came to a consensus, and settled for cookies. Yeah, cookies. They were quiet things. Not attention-seeking noise-makers like cakes.

Mind wanted oatmeal raisin cookies. Renee seconded that. Body acquiesced. We grabbed the first cookbook off the shelf. Ah! Looney Spoons. Good! We haven’t made anything from that in a long while. And hey, we bought that book during our stay in Vancouver, Canada. That’s fairly close to where Body-Clock, our absent yet ever omni-present partner-in-crime, is currently. Perfect.

It’s a fun book – low fat cooking made fun, quirky and well, just a little bit looney. It was a massive hit during the time I was in Vancouver a few years back. A lot of the stuff I have made from it (and its companion volume, Crazy Plates – don’t you just love the names of these two cookbooks?) have been successes, although there have also been a few disastrous misses.

And so we made oatmeal raisin cookies. These were decidedly oaty oatmeal cookies. Compared to the usual proportions of flour and oats in other oatmeal cookies, this recipe used a heck of a lot of oats – 2 cups of oats to just over ¾ cup flour. So the texture of the cookies was more akin to perhaps a soft, chewy granola bar rather than a cookie per se.

Oh, another thing, Mind was so sleep-deprived, it did not read the instructions properly BEFORE we started. Only after we were elbow-deep in flour and oats, did Mind shout out: hey, wait, we are supposed to cream the butter and sugar together in an electric mixer. What?! Wait a minute. Cookies are supposed to be quiet things. What electric mixer are you talking about? Sure enough. That was what the recipe said. Well, never mind the recipe. It was there for guidance, right? Who said anything about following it to the 'T'. Renee decided that butter and sugar shall thus be creamed by hand. Besides, Body needed the exercise. And it also did not seem to cause any irreparable or permanent damage or harm to cookie subject.

We made a few other adjustments, but we’ll talk about that as we go along.

Oatmeal Raisin Cookies
(adapted from Looney Spoons by Janet & Greta Podleski)

2 cups quick-cooking rolled oats
¾ cup + 2 tablespoons flour
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
1 cup lightly packed brown sugar
1/3 cup margarine or reduced fat margarine
¼ cup buttermilk
1 teaspoon vanilla
½ cup dark raisins

The recipe did not ask for the flour to be sifted. But I always sift my flour, even for cookies. And so, the flour, baking soda and salt were sifted together, before being combined with the oats. This was then set aside.

The recipe asked that the margarine, sugar, buttermilk and vanilla be mixed together. I didn’t think that sounded too right. So, I decided to cream the margarine and sugar together first before adding the buttermilk and vanilla. The margarine and sugar were vigorously mixed together in a large bowl, with a wooden spoon and much arm power. However, if not making cookies at 4am, an electric mixer would be useful for this purpose. The margarine and sugar were beaten until creamy and fluffy. The buttermilk and vanilla were then added and mixed well.

The dry ingredients were folded in, stirring only until they were just moistened.

Lastly, the raisins were stirred in.

Heaping tablespoons of the batter were dropped onto a baking sheet that had been coated with cooking spray. Ample space was allowed between each cookie. The dough was first quickly and gently patted into nicely rounded shapes using the fingertips which had been moistened with water, and then flattened to approximately ¼ inch thickness using the back of a teaspoon that had been dipped in water.

Into a 160C or 325F preheated oven went the cookies, for approximately 20 minutes. The recipe gave 13-14 minutes, but I had to return the cookies to the oven for another 6 minutes or so. The cookies were done when the tops were dry to the touch and the bottoms were golden brown.

They were removed from the tray immediately and left to cool on a wire rack.

The book said the recipe would make 16 large cookies. I made 22 good-sized ones.

The cookies were alright. I wouldn’t say they were overwhelmingly good. But at the same time, they weren’t underwhelming. They were okay. Soft, chewy, very oaty, not too sweet, with nice plump juicy raisins. They were nice for something this healthy and low in fat. And yes, they were very healthy indeed. They were like a rounder, flatter presentation of a granola bar I guess. Perhaps lowering the oat to flour ratio the next time round would make for a lighter and more interesting texture.

And so, at 5.30am, with warm freshly baked cookies in our tummies, off to bed we went – Mind, Body and me. And Body-Clock also finally decided to give us some peace.

Lastyly, on a separate note, I would like to wish one and all (albeit 1½ hours belatedly…) a blessed, joyful and safe Easter!

Copyright © 2004 Renee Kho. All Rights Reserved.
Please contact me for permission to copy, publish, distribute or display any of the images or text contained in this article.

Supremely Chewy, Peanut-Buttery and Chocolatey Chippy

There is just something about chocolate chip cookies… something indefinable, that makes people react to them in a certain way, feel about them in a special way and treat them in a different way from other cookies. They are loved by everyone. I have yet to meet a person who hates chocolate chip cookies. It just comes down to having different degrees of “like”. It almost seems like chocolate chip cookies speak to each of us at a primeval level. They are comfort food, even for those of us who did not grow up on milkshakes and chocolate chip cookies!

I made low-fat chocolate chip cookies for Christmas. Yes, I know, they are not very Christmasy at all. But they are so loved by kids and adults alike, and they are a sure fire way to bring smiles to faces. Plus, I really wanted to “make right” my previous somewhat unsuccessful attempt at making chewy reduced fat chocolate chip cookies.

These ones made from this new recipe were a resounding success! Best of all, no one knew they were low fat (until they were told)! Surely, that must be the defining “test” for a reduced fat cookie, and a chocolate chip one at that. These cookies were really chewy, and really delicious (if I may say so myself ). Even I was impressed with how the recipe turned out. I wasn’t quite expecting it. The peanut butter added wonderful aroma and taste to the cookies. The smells that were emanating from the kitchen as the cookies baked… Ahhhh… Pretty close to culinary heaven!

1 ¼ cup plain flour
1 cup quick-cooking rolled oats
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
¾ cup packed brown sugar
1/3 cup reduced fat margarine
1/3 cup light peanut butter
¼ cup buttermilk
1/3 cup mini chocolate chips

1. The flour, oats, baking soda and salt were combined together in a bowl.
2. Using a wooden spoon, the sugar, reduced fat margarine and peanut butter were creamed together in a separate bowl. The buttermilk was added, and mixed well.
3. The dry ingredients were added, and stirred in.
4. Finally, the chocolate chips were added and folded in.
5. The batter was dropped by the teaspoon-ful onto baking trays that had already been sprayed with cooking spray. Next, using the back of the teaspoon, sprayed with Pam, the cookies were gently flattened to about ¼” thickness.
6. They were baked in a 350F / 175C oven for about 10 minutes. Be sure NOT to OVERBAKE. Even when done, these cookies felt extremely soft, as if they were completely undone. They were removed from the baking tray immediately and allowed to cool on wire racks. Within 1-2 minutes, they started to firm up, and were beautifully soft and chewy!

Notes:
• I recently read that in reduced fat or low fat baking, the method of measuring out the flour is very important to the success (or not) of the recipe. Apparently, the normally practiced “scoop and sweep” method (i.e. dipping the measuring cup into the bag of flour and sweeping the excess flour off the top) is not suited to low fat baking, and can adversely affect the texture of the final baked product. Instead, a “spoon and sweep” method should be used. This is where the measuring cup is placed on a plate (or some other flat surface that can catch the excess flour), and a spoon is used to stir the flour in the bag (to aerate it slightly, as flour kept in the bag can become compacted) before lightly spooning it into the cup. The measuring cup is filled until it overflows, before the excess is swept off to level the cup. Apparently, the difference in the weight of flour measured by the two different methods can sometimes be as much as 20%! This will definitely make a difference to the texture and crumb of the final product. I agree with the rationale behind this. I think aerated flour is absolutely essential for helping give baked goods a nice, light crumb. Which is why…

• I sieve all my flours whenever I bake, even for cookies (and for cakes, I usually sieve twice). And I think I will, from now on, practice the new “spoon and sweep” method for measuring flour for all my baking, and not just for low fat items.

• I don’t recommend using reduced fat margarine that has less than 50 calories and 5g of fat per tablespoon. I think margarines that are “lighter” than these parameters would probably not produce a tasty end result, and will affect the texture too much.

• I did receive a comment from one person that he would have preferred more chocolate chips in the cookies, so this would be an option to consider. Maybe using ½ or 2/3 cup of chocolate chips instead.

• These cookies do spread a little when baked, so a 2” space should be left between each cookie.

• Low fat or reduced fat baked goods are very sensitive to being overbaked. It is best to check for doneness before the stated time is up.

• I was initially a little surprised by how soft these cookies were even at the end of the stipulated baking time. For my first tray of cookies, I thought they were still uncooked even at the end of the full baking time because they were still so soft, and I returned them to the oven for a couple of minutes more. But they were in actual fact already done. Thank goodness they did not end up overbaked. They came out of the oven very soft, and firmed up immediately upon being removed from the oven. As long as they are lightly browned on the edges and on the underside, they should be done.

• I actually made 2 sizes of these cookies (dropping the batter by the tablespoon-ful and by the teaspoon-ful). The former baked out to about a 3” diameter cookie, and the latter to about a 2” cookie. With this recipe’s batter portion, I could make 11 larger cookies and 16 smaller ones. I think the batter can comfortably produce about 30 2-2½” medium-sized cookies.

• There wasn’t much of a difference in baking time between the smaller and larger cookies, with the smaller ones going in for roughly the same amount of time or maybe just one minute shorter.

• Overnight, these cookies became even chewier. When eating them the next day (assuming there are still any leftover ), I prefer to warm them up first in the toaster oven for 1-2 minutes.

• Finally, I actually even sat down and tried to calculate the calories/fat content of these cookies! Can you believe it? So, for those who are interested (or care about such things), the larger 3” cookies each have approximately 110 calories and 3.8g of fat, whilst the smaller ones have about 75 calories each with 2.6g of fat. And… if the full batch of batter is divided out to make 30 equal sized cookies, each cookie will have 80 calories and 2.8g fat.

Guilt-free indulgence. How about that?

Copyright © 2003 Renee Kho. All rights reserved.
Please contact me for permission to copy, distribute or display any of the images and text contained in this article.