For The Love Of Baking

Because Food Must Be Good ~

The cookie and a tin cup of Schoko Peanut Butter chocolate drink

 
Cookies. Nuts. Nut about cookies and nuts.
Oh, those creatures: nuts and cookies. I can finish one tall jar of chunky Skippy by myself. I don’t even need a spoon. Fingers are all I need. For the love of peanuts. Actually, for the love of any kind of nuts! No wonder I am going nuts!
 
One of my favorite store-bought cookies is Pepperigde Farm. You know, beside Marks & Spencer’s. While Marks & Spencer’s give the divine gourmet flavor, Pepperidge Farm’s boast its perfect texture. Perfect coarse, perfect crunch, perfect rough face. It feels just right in your palm, feels even better between your teeth. And when the crunchiness broke into crumbs, joining together once again in your mouth to chew, you just know that it was destined to be the best texture a store-bought cookies will ever achieve. How bombastic am I so far?
 
It’s true!
 
Now, it’s a little known fact that the secret to the best crunch and texture in cookies is none other than the mighty hand of a magic thing called: shortening. It’s 0%-water-100-%-fat creates the ultimate characteristic a crunchy cookie always strives for. It brings them up to the pedestal then crown them to perfection, lift them even higher to the altar of the Gods! Haha!
 
But why oh why, everything good comes with a price! It’s like a punishment for human kind for having too much pleasure! That freakin’ trans fat thing, ugh! Lately, people’s concern about trans fat had given born to this product called fortification of vitamin A, a.k.a. non-trans-fat margarine. Do you even buy that idea? What the heck, let’s throw our caution to the wind and trust the food industry for once. So I substituted margarine, the non-trans-fat one, for shortening. Then I prayed, for that perfect texture to form anyway. Please God, I beg you.
 
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Ow, yeah, baby.
 
The photos speak more than the words could even describe, I hope. The sinful treats. The skeleton in our closets. The deep dark secret we keep, in which each one of us indulges ourselves to the core from time to time. Better than sex, better than p**n
 
The french macaroons were in pistachio, blueberry, strawberry, rose and cappucino flavors. Yes, they’re sweet. Even too sweet for some people. But the meringue must have that much amount of sugar to hold its pretty round shape. And they had lots of ground almond, which made them a divine delight melting in your mouth good. Got them from Bakerzin, the desserts paradise, one of my happiest places ever exist.
 

 
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Happy Idul Fitri to all muslims in the world.
Deep apology I ask of you. For everything. Everything.
 

 
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After the rain
washes away the tears
and all the pain
only after the rain
you’ll live again
 
“After The Rain” ~ Nelson
 
As for me, it’s After Disasters. After disasters, I’ll live again.
 
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I made these Gingerbread Houses because Dewi Anwar encouraged me to. If not by her persistence, I would have not made them at all. Thanks, un
 
Coincidently, Sugar High Friday #26’s theme is Sugar Art. I’m not sure if this post is qualified, knowing that gingerbread house is very common in western countries. But I sent my entry anyway (hi, Danielle ).
(Update: Check out her wonderful roundup here!)
 
At first, I almost cracked from the pressure and intimidating thoughts of how hard it would be. Silly, huh? I mean, even kids can do it! Maybe it’s because I tried making it last year and it was a total failure due to the wrong cookie recipe. It crumbled to dust, it didn’t even make it to a wall. So it’s very important to use a good recipe that is not only delicious, but also firm enough to make a sturdy house.
 
Dewi suggested a recipe from Wilton, and I was soooo satisfied with the result. It’s firm, delicious, and smelled wonderful! The corn syrup’s sugary smell enhanced and locked the aroma of the spices, giving it a long lasting smell that would still be intact days after baking. It’s also important to use good quality spices as they distinguish your gingerbread house from the store-bought mass-products.
 
Enough for the rambling, now let’s build a house.
 
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How time flew like blink of the eyes. We’re now only one week away from Lebaran. Oh, well. Will I see Ramadhan again next year?
 
I’m gonna be away from the internet world for about 2 weeks, to help my sister-in-law facing her last pregnancy days and continue with celebrating Idul Fitri with my big family at my eldest brother’s house.
 
Happy Idul Fitri to all muslim in the world.
Once again I pled guilty for all my mistakes, and asking for your apology for everything I did that might hurt any soul. The fault is mine and mine alone. May Allah purify our soul. May we reborn as a new human being. *sigh*
 
About the cookies in the jars:

• Espresso Delight, recipe from Vania
  I dissolved the coffee in 1 Tbsp of water, and added up 1-2 Tbsp flour to balance the moisture.
   
• Kaasstengels, recipe from Sedap Sekejap
  Used 100 g fresh salted butter and 25 gr margarine. Substituted edamer with parmesan.
   
• Nastar (Pineapple Cookies), recipe from Fatmah Bahalwan, posted by Rita
   
• Chocolate Surprise, recipe from Santap Magazine, posted by Anastasia
  She doesn’t have the recipe on her post though, you might want to ask her to put it up on her blog

 

Finally got one day, one day, with no schedule of anything that involves going out or working on the computer. So I baked these Vanilla Hearts, one afternoon, just in time for my afternoon tea break.
 
This shortbread is from the book of Practical Cookies I bought from my baking teacher. I’ve been wondering of what shortbread really is. I mean, is it bread, is it cookie? If it’s a simple bread, why short? Shortbread? If it’s cookie, why they call it bread? Shortbread?

Man, this drove me crazy.

Instead of hitting the internet to find the definition, I decided to just jump off the cliff: bake and experience them myself. So then I will get a definition of my own. And I got one. Check it out:

A very thick, rich, sweet, crumbly, eggless biscuit that guarantee to fill your afternoon with sweet and happy crumbs.

For logic comparison though, here is a definition from Wikipedia:

Shortbread is a type of biscuit (US: cookie) which is traditionally made from one part sugar, two parts butter and three parts flour, although other ingredients like ground rice or cornflour (US: cornstarch) are sometimes added to alter the texture. It is baked at a low temperature to avoid browning; when cooked it should be white or a light golden brown. Shortbread is generally associated with Scotland although it is also made in Denmark and in other countries.

You’ll find other sophisticated definition on the net. Just hit Google and type shortbread as the keyword. But for me, shortbread is just as simple as “the easiest biscuit that I will bake again and again“.

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