books & cookies

I call them Christmas crinkles. I was supposed to make this two weeks ago but I had a hard time looking for confectioner’s sugar :/

To aid me in my baking, I recently bought an Imarflex 3in1 oven, it cost me around PHP 4,000 and it was worth it. Finally, I can bake more at ease. Although I owe a lot of my first ever baked cookies to our turbo broiler, I really had a hard time baking with that one.

Here’s how my Imarflex 3in1 oven looks like:

Imarflex 3in1 Convection and Rotisserie (28L Ultra Large Capacity)

What made me decide to buy this one was the convection switch. If you research in the net, you’ll find out that convection heating is ideal to achieve even baking.

Enough of my new toy, let’s get down on how I was able to pull off these amazing crinkles.

This is not my own recipe, I googled the recipe and voila! Original recipe here.

What you’ll need:

3 cups all-purpose flour

1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp baking soda

3/4 tsp salt

3/4 cup unsalted butter, softened

1 1/3 cups granulated sugar

3 large eggs

1 Tbsp milk or buttermilk

1 1/2 tsp vanilla bean paste or vanilla

2 tsp lemon juice or vinegar

4 tsp red food coloring

1 cup white chocolate chips

1 cup powdered sugar

Here’s how to do it:

In a mixing bowl sift and whisk together flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside. Using an electric hand mixer or stand mixer, whip butter and granulated sugar until pale and fluffy. Mix in eggs 1 at a time, blending until combined after each addition. Add in milk, vanilla bean paste, lemon juice/vinegar and red food coloring. With mixer set on low speed, slowly add in dry ingredients and mix just until combined. Fold in white chocolate chips. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and chill 2 hours or until firm enough to shape into balls.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Pour powdered sugar into a bowl. Remove dough from refrigerator, scoop dough out and with buttered hands, shape into medium balls (about 2 1/2 Tbsp each). Roll cookie dough balls into powdered sugar and evenly coat. Transfer to parchment paper lined baking sheets and flatten slightly, then bake in preheated oven for 9-10 minutes. Allow to rest on cookie sheet several minutes then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Store in an airtight container. Refrigerate as desired.

Before popping them in the oven

Crinkled!

A platter of pure Christmas joy =)

Notes for beginners (based on my experience in making these crinkles)

You will surely need a stand mixer or hand mixer. I can not imagine making this recipe without one.
Sift the dry ingredients so there’s not going to be any lumps
After combining both the dry and wet ingredients, you’ll have a very pasty batter. Thus, you’ll need to refrigerate it so it’ll be easier to form them in balls later.
When forming the balls, spread butter in your palms so it will not stick. As you form balls, the butter will wear out and you’ll notice the batter sticking in your palms like you’re molding a red clay pot (hahah), so spread butter from time to time.
I was able to shape three sizes of balls, on my next batch I’ll stick with the smallest one.
When coating the shaped balls in confectioner’s sugar, coat them generously, because if you don’t, the coating will be absorbed as it is baked and will not look appealingly.
Always pre-heat your oven. I preheated mine for about 20 minutes before I popped in the tray. And do not over bake; I timed my baking at exactly 9 minutes, crinkled outside and soft and a little gooey inside, just what I want them to be.
I’m not a professional. I’m just a hobbyist so forgive me if I break some baking rules without me knowing it.

The three balls I shaped, sticking to the right one on my next batch.

Baking these crinkles truly made me happy, it was harder than baking chocolate chip cookies but I really enjoyed making these. I'm going to whip these babies again to giveaway as Christmas presents to friends. By the way, you can also create these with cream cheese filling, maybe I’ll try it next time. It is costlier than this one you know, so I probably would need a sponsor. Hihihih.

I’m on book 3 , A Storm of Swords. I’ve read somewhere that book 6 will be out soon so gee, thanks, I’m halfway then. If you ever have this inexplicable desire to read the series, I tell you , don’t do it! The book is evil. There I said it.

But why am I still hooked. Because like every other evil things (drugs, cigarettes etc. etc.) they’re quite addictive. Don’t judge me yet, It doesn’t take a 6-book series to look and creep into what’s going on in my mind, maybe if you’ve read The Catcher in the Rye I’d give you permission to do so. See what I did there, I’m contradicting myself, the effects of ASOIF.

I’m not a book critic but it is safe to say that the series is not a literary masterpiece but what I am sure of is that it keeps you entertained be it because of violence, politics or sex.

This series is not for the faint of heart. A lot of the contents revolve in things that are widely not acceptable in our times. Heck, I’m just picturing the scenario while reading and it makes me want to puke sometimes (see I haven’t watched the full GOT series, saving that when I finished book 3).

At this point in my reading, I stuck to the notion that I will not play favorites in characters because I always end up cursing the one who killed him/her and losing heart over life.

I’m still hoping for justice; many have been killed but no one seems to be accountable, like wtf George.

Even before I saw the first 3 episodes of season 1, I always picture Jon to be scruffy and good looking. So this definitely is one of the reasons why.

I just wished George did not put the wights, “Others” or other creatures in the series, because it seems unfair to hold a battle against this creatures (except for the dragons,because they rock). But what do I know, I’m only halfway. I can’t wait ‘til I finish the 5 books and spoil everyone, such a pleasure.

(reposted from http://miss-conclusion.tumblr.com/post/92131534585/the-reasons-i-keep-on-reading-a-song-of-ice-and-fire)

So finally I gave in and rode in GOT bandwagon albeit more than a year I was supposed to.

It’s not everyday that I welcome interesting finds in my mind, the last book I totally shipped was Catch-22, where the chapter names are the character names much like this book. Now I’m trapped in this web of ” I have to finish reading the whole series” thank you very much George. Or I can skip the reading part and just effin’ watch the tv series but then again, I never let tv/movie adaptation ruin my reading. So yeah, suffer more m’lady.This is my futile attempt to list the teachings I’ve learned from this book. You see, I always look for the deeper meaning of a book, or not.
1. Treachery comes in many forms. This guy who George called as Littlefinger seems to be a nice man, proclaiming his love and fighting for it and then later unmasking his true identity. Those who agree with you and whisper things to you may not always be those you can trust.
2. Then, it’s a choice between beauty and weakness or the lack of and roughness. Yes, Sansa or Arya. my choice is yet to come.
3. There is always that one unique member of the family whom you may or may not like.
4. Sometimes, it’s much better to not say a thing or say the same thing over and over again, Hodor.
5. Elaborate sensuality is a feast in the eyes alongside intricate narration of swords clashing.
I have yet to thank George for treating me in this feast, combination of sweets, bitterness, frustrations and anger. I’m hoping to see the suckling pig at the end of the tunnel which you know is the fifth book of the series. Better be prepared though, winter is coming.

Everyone was talking about this and that, spoilers lurking in social media, good thing I can’t remember names then. I chose the road less traveled, or in simpler terms, I read the book, book 1 of A Song of Ice and Fire. And now I can comment here and there on why this and that happened but who am I fooling, I’m 3 seasons late.

(reposted from http://miss-conclusion.tumblr.com/post/86950899520/a-game-of-thrones-in-my-mind)

Red Velvet Crinkles

The Reasons I Keep on Reading A Song of Ice and Fire

A Game of Thrones in my mind