in my studio | category

May
18
2012

oreo cheesecake

I had a packet of Oreo’s from a while back when Coles had them on special for $1, so I thought why not make something a little classy yet cute? I went on a hunt to find the perfect oreo cheesecake recipe and this did me proud!

What I liked about this recipe is that its not too dense or too light. Its just perfect. I love the creaminess and smoothness of the mixture, combined with the biscuit crunch…it certainly makes for a crowd pleasing dessert for the young and old.

RECIPE FOR OREO CHEESECAKE
Adapted from Gourmet Getaways with slight modifications

Serves: 12
Prep time: 20 mins
Chill time: 6 hours (min)

Ingredients

Base
80gm butter, melted
250gm Oreo biscuits

Cheesecake
200gm white chocolate
250ml pouring cream (regular unthickened)
375gm Philadelphia Cream Cheese
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup caster sugar
1/4 cup boiling water
3 tsp gelatine

Top decoration
Whipped cream
12 halved oreo cookies

Method

1. Place the biscuit base ingredients in a food processor and pulse until it reaches a fine breadcrumb stage.

2. Press crumbs into a 12 cupcake base and refrigerate.

3. Combine water and gelatine and stir until fully dissolved.

4. Warm the cream and white chocolate in a double boiler and stir until smooth. Allow to cool until room temp.

5. Combine the cream cheese, vanilla and sugar in a food processor until the mixture is smooth and the sugar is dissolved. Add the white chocolate mixture to the food processor and combine. Pour the gelatin into the food processor and continue to mix the cheesecake filling until smooth.

6. Pour the filling into the prepared biscuit base.

7. In a piping bag, pipe out the whipped cream for the top decoration and finally put an oreo on top. Chill until set for at least 6 hours.

Note: I use cupcake cases first then before serving, take them out and place onto plate.

20 lovely comments
Category: cake, chocolate, cookies, desserts, halal, in my kitchen

Aug
24
2011

raya madness // peanut cookies

Its Eid! If you’re a traditional malay, you’d probably spent hours in the kitchen making traditional Eid cookies. Growing up in Malaysia, you’ll find hundreds of variety of cookies. From the traditional bahulu and kuih bangkit to the more modern ones like chocolate marble and london almonds, you could not celebrate Eid without at least having one of each, after all, they are only tiny bite size cookies!

So for this Eidul adha, I decided to go somewhere in between. Not too traditional and not too modern. Something easy and simple to make. Of course my all time favourite – peanut cookies…the ones that melt in your mouth, yum!

PEANUT COOKIES
Adapted from Do what I like with slight modifications

Yields: 40 cookies
Prep time: 30 mins
Cook time: 20 mins

Ingredients

100g unsalted peanuts (skin off)
100 g salted peanuts (skin off)
200g plain flour
100g icing sugar
100g veg oil or peanut oil
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/8 tsp salt
1 egg yolk,lightly beaten with 1 tsp water for eggwash

Method

1.Preheat oven to 160 degrees. Grease and line a baking tray.

2. Put 200g peanuts in a wok and dry fry over low heat till just about brown. Then put into a blender and blend till it forms into a smooth powder.

3. Mix flour, baking powder, ground peanut powder, icing sugar and salt in a big mixing bowl till well combined.

4. Add in 100g oil and mix till a piable dough is formed. In a piping bag fitted with a round nozzle (tip), spoon the mixture and pipe them into tiny drops about 2cms (width)

5. Apply egg wash and put in the oven for 20mins or until golden brown.

Note: These cookies are meant to be very soft due to the icing sugar used. Once you remove them from the oven, do not disturb them. Let it cool down.

1 lovely comment
Category: cookies, desserts, in my kitchen

Aug
22
2011

raya madness // choc almond cookies

Raya madness translates to ‘Gila Raya” which means Eid madness. Eid marks the end of Ramadan and is a celebration for all Muslims around the globe. This is my first year (ever!) making eid cookies/biskut raya. I wanted to re-create the spirit of eid like we have back home in Malaysia, especially now that I have a child. Growing up in Malaysia, we always looked forward to celebrating eid. The food. The visits. The money. The atmosphere. Its such a huge celebration and one that I will surely treasure forever. I know my daughter will never experience that kind of eid (or maybe one day inshallah), but at least she can enjoy my homemade cookies.

So this Eid, my sister, step mum and I will make a few batch of cookies each. Different varieties of course, and share them amongst ourselves. So in total, each of us get 10+ variety of cookies. Yay! The cookies that I have/will be making are choc almond, peanut cookies and choc chip cookies. (edit: links added)

In spirit of this year’s eid, the next few posts will be in relation to malay traditional food commonly served during eid/raya. Enjoy!

RECIPE FOR CHOC ALMOND COOKIES
Adapted from Jom Masak Jom Makan-Makan

Yields: 150 cookies
Prep time: 20 mins
Cook time: 15 mins, per tray (these made a lot of trays!)

Ingredients

300g flour*
250g butter
250g chocolate, melted
200g caster sugar
200g cornflour*
2 tbsp cocoa powder*
200g almonds
1 tsp vanilla essence
1 egg

*Sift these ingredients into a bowl

Method

1. Beat the sugar, butter and vanilla essence until fluffy.

2. Put the egg and chocolate and continue beating until well combined.

3. Add the sifted ingredients and using a spatula, gently fold the mixture.

4. Add the almonds and combine well. Do not over combine or almonds will start to break.

5. Put some mixture into plastic wrap and shaped them into a square long train (see photo above)

6. Once all the mixtures have been wrapped tightly, put them into the fridge for 2 hours until it sets.

7. Preheat oven to 180 degrees and grease a baking tray lined with baking paper.

8. Take out the cookie dough and remove plastic. Cut into 2cm thick and place on the baking tray. Bake for 15 minutes.

Click ‘Read More’ below to print out the recipe and leave a comment.

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Category: cookies, desserts, in my kitchen

Aug
19
2011

chocolate ripple bites

I’ve been attending Aussie Muslims (forum) iftaar for 3 years consecutively now. And at every single iftaar, a sister (May Allah reward her) never fails to make these super cute bite size dessert. Though, she puts a bit more effort into them by drizzling over some chocolate for that finishing touch. I just topped mine with a slice of strawberry. Now these are on their way to my sister in laws house, for iftaar. Impressive much?

RECIPE FOR CHOCOLATE RIPPLE BITES

Makes: 25
Prep time: 20mins
Chill time: min 6 hours (recommended overnight)

Ingredients

400g Arnotts chocolate ripple biscuit (1.5 packets)
600ml thickened cream
1/3 cup caster sugar
1 tsp vanilla essence
5 strawberries, sliced

Method

1. Using an electric mixer, whip the cream sugar and vanilla essence until thickened.

2. Lay 25 biscuits on a tray and put a dollop of cream mixture then sandwich it with another biscuit on top. Do this for the remaining 24 biscuits.

3. Using a star nozzle, put some mixture into the nozzle bag and squeeze the cream to form a nice shape.

4. Top with a strawberry slice and refrigerate for at least 6 hours, but I recommend refrigerating overnight.

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Category: cake, cookies, desserts, in my kitchen

Aug
06
2011

chewy chocolate chip cookies

My husband is a huge cookie fan, in Australia, we call them biscuits. My pantry is always full of them. Double chocolate, ginger, anzac, scotch, tim tams…the list goes on. I believe he has converted my daughter into a cookie monster as well. They both have a cookie each at night if they wake up. But, my husband cannot have biscuits without milk! Reason being – he likes them soft and gooey. This is how he eats it: take a bite, have a sip of milk, it goes all gooey inside and then swallow. Repeat the process again. He even leaves the packet of biscuit open on purpose so they turn more gooey-ish (if thats even a word!)

These NESTLÉ cookies are so soft and chewy. We have now turned into a cookie monster family.

CHEWY CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIE RECIPE
Adapted from Nestle, with slight modifications

Yields:50 cookies
Prep time: 20mins
Cook time: 15 mins

Ingredients

180 grams butter
1/3 cup sugar
1 can NESTLÉ sweetened condensed milk
2 cups self raising flour
250 grams NESTLÉ dark choc bits

Method

1. Preheat oven to 180ºC.

2. Beat butter and sugar until creamy, beat in NESTLÉ Sweetened Condensed Milk.

3. Add flour, stir until combined.

4. Add NESTLÉ Dark Choc Bits, mix well.

5. Roll heaped tablespoonfuls of mixture into balls, place on greased oven trays and press gently with fork.

6. Bake for 15 minutes, until golden.