Strawberry Ice cream Sandwich

This is my first time to join the Pinoy Foodista Cooking Challenge.  I am happy to join this group of fine Filipino Foodies.  You can find more about them here.  Please click here and vote for my sandwich.

This month's challenge is "Strawberries in a sandwich".  I have to credit my sister-in-law with this one.  She suggested doing an ice cream sandwich.  I ran with that idea and made a Strawberry meringue ice cream in a Triple chocolate cookie sandwich.

I don't have an ice cream maker so I had to find a easy ice cream recipe that I can make.  I found this recipe while watching a children's cooking show.  Yep, that's right.  The best thing about this recipe is that it's very simple and children can help you make it. 

I got Deanna to help me.  She loves cooking and as soon as I told her what I was going to make, she put on her apron straight away.

Strawberry Meringue Ice cream

250ml double cream

4 heaped dessert spoons natural yoghurt

4 level dessert spoons icing sugar

12 large strawberries, hulled and smashed with the back of a fork

2 meringue nest

1. whisk the cream in the bowl, until it’s light and fluffy. 

2.  Add the yoghurt and icing sugar to the cream and whisk it more.

3.  Place the strawberries in the mixture.

4.  Hold a meringue nest over the bowl and crush it in your hand and then drop it into the mixture and give it a gentle stir.

5.  Pour the mixture into the lidded container and put it in the freezer for at least two hours or preferably overnight.

Take out of the freezer about 30 minutes before sandwiching in the cookies to soften a little.

Triple Chocolate Chip Cookies

125g unsalted butter, softened.

1 1/4 cups tightly packed brown sugar

1 tsp vanilla essence

1 egg, lightly beaten

1 1/2 cups plain flour
2 tbs cocoa powder

1/2 tsp baking powder

a pinch of salt

3/4 cups dark chocolate chips

3/4 cup white chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 180degC.  Place butter and sugar in a bowl and beat until light and creamy.  Add vanilla and egg and stir to combine.  Stir in the sifted flour, cocoa powder baking powder and salt until just combined.  Fold through the  rocky road.

Place spoonfuls of cookie mixture on a lined baking tray, allowing room for spreading.  Cook for 15-20 minutes, until they turn pale gold.

Allow to cool on the tray for 5 minutes before placing biscuits on a wire rack to cool further.

Bon Appetite,

Cherrie

Chocolate and Nutella Thumbprint Cookies for World Nutella Day

World Nutella Day is held on February 5th and was the brain child of Sara, and Michelle .  The idea behind World Nutella Day is to celebrate and get creative with Nutella. You can follow them on twitter or become a fan on facebook.

My family loves Nutella, especially simply on toast for Breakfast.   My contribution is Chocolate and Nutella Thumbprint Cookies.  This is yummy.  The cookie is chewy and soft and the drop of nutella on top is a perfect match.

1/2 cup butter

2/3 cup sugar

1 egg, separated

2 tablespoons milk

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 cup all purpose flour

1/3 cup baking cocoa

1/4 teaspoon salt

1.  In a bowl add the butter, sugar, egg yolk, milk and vanilla and mix til light and fluffy.

2.  Sift the flour, cocoa and salt in a separate bowl then gradually add to creamed mixture,stir to combine.

3.  Cover and place in the refrigerator one hour, or until firm enough to shape into balls.

4.  Take 1 tablespoon of the mixture and shape into balls

5.  Using your thumb (or back of a 1/4 tsp) make an indentation in center of of each cookie. 

6.  Bake at 160degC for 10 to 12 minutes, or until center is just set.

7.  Let the cookies cool before filling them

Makes 24 cookies

 Fill the centers with Nutella.

 

I also made some peanut butter ones.

 There are many other fillings you can use but I think Nutella is the best one.

Bon Appetite,
Cherrie

Deanna bakes Christmas Cookies

This is my first year to make Christmas cookies.  I always had the intention to do a lot of Christmas baking but as always, I ran out of time.

This year, I promised Deanna that we would bake cookies.  Deanna, as you know, loves being in the kitchen.  She always asks if she can help me when I'm cooking dinner but unfortunately, I'm usually rushing dinner or I don't have the time or patience during the weeknight.  Because of that, I try to have one-on-one cooking sessions with her, during the weekends or when I have some time up my sleeve.

This is a recipe I  found in Nigella Lawson's feast.  It's perfect for children, especially the decorating, which happens to be Deanna's favourite part.  She took her time and meticulously decorated each and every cookie to perfection. 

90g unsalted butter

100g caster sugar

1 egg, lightly beaten

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

200g plain flour, sifted

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp fine salt

1.  Cream butter and sugar together until pale and creamy.  Add in the egg and vanilla and beat.

2.  In another bowl, combine flour, baking powder and salt.

3.  Add the dry ingredients to the butter and eggs and mix gently.

4.  If the mixture it too sticky to be rolled out, add a little more flour. (not too much or else the dough will be tough)

5.  Form into a ball, press down into a flat disc, wrap with clingfilm and rest in the fridge for at least 1 hour.

6.  Sprinkle  the surface with flour and roll the dough to about 1/2 cm thickness.  Cut out shapes. (dip the cutter in flour as you go)

7.  Bake in a preheated oven 180degC for 8 - 12 minutes, depending on how big your shapes are.  When they are ready, they will have more colour on the outside but soft in the middle.  Carefully move them to a wire rack to cool completely

8.  Make the icing by adding a small amount of hot water to icing sugar to form a thick paste.  Add colour as desired.

9.  Decorate the cookies.

This was fun for both Deanna and myself.  I will definitely make the time  to bake cookies again next year.

Cherrie