Peanut Butter Cookies

Been a while. I am postponing my change to Tumblr as I am having second thoughts. It would be like starting a completely new blog, and I've had this blog for almost a year. I'll probably need a second opinion.

Today's yumminess comes in the form of a cookie.

Cookie? Yes, Peanut Butter Cookie.

I have a friend who is in love with peanut butter. He knows who he is. I enjoy the odd spoonful of peanut butter but can't eat it in a sandwich. I don't know why. I can, however, happily eat a trayful of these cookies. They were flavoursome and yum.

Two types of cookies in a row? I know, but stay tuned because I have something awesome to show you guys in a few days/weeks. Bye.

Totally Chocolate Chocolate Cookies

These are totally chocolate, chocolate chip cookies. They contain chocolate in four forms: cocoa powder, melted chocolate, dark chocolate bits and white chocolate bits. The original recipe called for chocolate chips which I found out I did not have. Instead I chopped up some dark chocolate and white chocolate. This resulted in a much richer cookie. But what's wrong with that?



I did give some out to celebrate the end of yearlies. They were hugely appreciated. With so much chocolate, these cookies can sink a ship with its decadence. Due to the price of chocolate, these were probably also the most expensive cookies I've ever made. All the more to prize them for.

Some news: It is very likely that I will be moving this blog to Tumblr. Friends have told me that Tumblr is better for blogs with a lot of photos. If you wish to know my new link, please e-mail me at thesetastesofmine@gmail.com. I am only doing this because there are some people who I do not wish to know my new blog's address. I will keep this blog running but I am not sure what will happen in the future. I would appreciate it if my followers could follow me on Tumblr, once I get the new blog running.

Thankyou~

Amaretti Biscuits

I got this recipe from my new cookbook The Big Book of Baking. The recipe was called 'Almond Macaroons', though I prefer the Italian name Amaretti biscuits. Macaroons are made with egg whites and coconut. Macarons are a complicated French biscuit made with almond meal and egg whites, with some sort of cream sandwiched between. People on TV (*cough* MasterChef), pronounce Macarons 'Macarooooons'. They're wrong.

Anyways, Ameretti are an Italian cookie made with almond meal, sugar and egg whites. That's all. The recipe called for halved blanched almonds to be placed on top, but I prefer the colour and ease of a whole almond. This recipe also added a drop of almond essence, though I don't think it's at all necessary. They were delicious morsels eaten with tea.
.

Mangomisu

A few days ago, I made my own cheese again. This time I made mascarpone - a soft Italian cheese made with cream. I had a few problems with it, either it not curdling enough or not making firming up. In the end I made a considerable batch, but it was still no enough. I used spreadable light cream cheese to make up for the rest. I used the cheese to make Mangomisu. People may know what Tiramisu is - an Italian coffee-flavoured dessert, but this is mango-flavoured instead.

The recipe says to put a layer of sliced mangoes on top, as decoration, but I ran out, so I left it out. It looks really good even without it. It tasted deliciously creamy and the savoiardi biscuits turn into what tastes like a sponge cake.
.

The structure of the cake wasn't very stable though. It nearly separated into two when I was takeing it out of the pan. I also could not slice it properly. But this no longer matters once you take a bite of this Mangomisu. The recipe also gives a raspberry sauce which I did not make.
.

Cookies and Cream Cheesecake

Did I mention I love cheesecake? Did I also mention I love Oreos? Well I love both, so what's better than combining the two and making a Cookies and Cream Cheesecake? I had a craving for cheesecake so I found this recipe on the Kraft recipes website. It is basically a New York cheesecake with bits of Oreo cookies. I should have expected it to be a bit too rich, seeing as my previous New York cheesecake, was too rich, but it was delicious nonetheless.

Another reason why I decided to make cheesecake was because if I bought 3 Philadelphia products, I could get a Philadelphia cookbook for free. It's called 'Simply Heaven', and it contains delicious recipes which all use Philadelphia cream cheese, as well as the new 'Cream for Cooking'. I am definitely going to try some of the recipes in the near future.

I bumped into a few troubles whilst making this cheesecake, but also solved a few that I had encountered previously. Firstly, if using Oreos, make sure to remove the white filling. Last time I didn't remove them and it was very difficult to crush. I also found out why my cheesecake mixtures were always lumpy - the cheese was not soft enough. I microwaved them for longer time and it worked wonderfully. Remember, for every 250 grams of cream cheese, microwave for 30 seconds on high. One problem was that I forgot to grease or line the base of the springform pan, so most of the crumbs stuck to the bottom, and the whole cake 'ripped' in two. I had to use cutters to cut a few circles out that were relatively presentable, but there was barely any crust.

Another thing, I baked this in a water bath, but that did not prevent cracking. The Oreo pieces seemed to protrude out the top, making little cracks which expand while cooling. If you really do want to use a water bath, place the tray on the lowest level of the oven, because no matter how tightly I wrap the springform pan, water seems to always leak in.

Did you see my amateurish attempt at a plate 'garnish'? Yeah, totally failed. Stay tuned.

Recipe

Obtained here.

Makes 16 servings.

1 cup crushed Oreo cookies (about 12 cookies)

1 tablespoon (14 grams) butter or margarine, melted

4 pkg. (250 grams each) Philadelphia Cream Cheese, softened
1 cup sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

4 eggs

20 Oreo cookies, quartered

1. Preheat oven to 325°F (160°C) if using a silver springform pan or 300°F (150°C) if using a dark nonstick springform pan. Mix crushed cookies and butter; press onto bottom of 9-inch (22 cm) springform pan. Bake 10 minutes.

2. Beat cream cheese, sugar and vanilla with electric mixer on medium speed until well blended. Add eggs, 1 at a time, mixing on low speed after each addition just until blended. Gently stir in quartered cookies. Pour over crust.

3. Bake for 1 hour or until center is almost set. Run knife or metal spatula around rim of pan to loosen cake; cool before removing rim of pan. Refrigerate 4 hours or overnight. Garnish with additional cookies, if desired.