sticky, chewy and malty!

i love chewy cookies.
i loathe sandwich joints that give me hard crispy cookies.

they don't compliment my meal at all. after eating hearty sandwich, you want to rest and sweeten up, taste sugar and let your teeth sink into soft, chewy goodness.

on to the next note, i love Pioneer Woman's malted milk cookies. I made them once before and they were absolutely lovely. chocolatey and smooth, but they had the potential to be so much more. i aimed to have them melt in your mouth, must-have-seconds good.

so here it is, the cookies that were snapped up in record time in the office (where all my lovely test subjects as well as hardcore reviewers are) - Sticky Chewy Malted Milk Cookies - adapted from the pioneer woman herself!

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your-stro-ne.

In Singapore, it's the same temperature all year round - 25 - 32˚C either with rains or sun.

So when I hopped on a plane to visit one of my best friends, Russ in sunny brisbane, I wasn't prepared for 15˚C. I thought "it's only 10˚C difference, how bad can it be?"

BOY WAS I WRONG.

All i really wanted to do every night was wrap myself up in layer after layer in front of a radiator and falling asleep. of course, I was the laughing stock of the suburb when I was decked in 4 layers when everyone was cruising around in bermudas.

so when it was my turn to cook dinner, i had to make a hearty, lovely bowl of soup. something chunky, sweet and warm and since i was in a foreign kitchen, something simple that wouldn't need much tools or utensils. I also wanted to make use of Australia's excellent produce, fresh veggies are the way to go.

here's something to warm your hearts and tummy - Roasted Vegetables Minestrone Soup.

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Cobblers, Cobblers, mend my shoe.

Whenever my friends have dinner parties, they would all look at me with those watery bambi eyes and say "eh, can you do dessert?"

I don't understand why everyone is so afraid of desserts and I live for simple yet delectable recipes.

So this time, when I worked on dessert, I provided the recipe to my friends - just to show how easy and delicious desserts can be. This recipe has only 6 steps, one of which is "indulge right away with your favourite ice-cream flavour"!

Here's the recipe for Mini Raspberry and Blueberry Cobblers.

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lemon shortbread cookies

light, crumbly and citrusy.
there, this lemon shortbread cookie summarised in three words.

this recipe was found in desperation - i had all these items in stock and i had to use my powdered sugar because our weather here just does not allow it to keep.

so, with a lemon and some other characters, i set out to get this great tea snack a citrus twist.

believe me, this lemon shortbread cookies with change the way you have tea.

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oreo cheesecake cookies.

i had a dry baking spell - couldn't really find anything i really wanted to bake. i rehashed several recipes - eclairs and cupcakes - just to try to freshen things up.

a few days ago, i updated a facebook status with oreo cheesecake cupcakes vs shortbread cookies match and a stroke of genius in the form of my very lovely boss suggested doing Oreo Cheesecake Cookies.

the traditional cheesecake recipe combines cream cheese, vanilla, butter and sugar. how can i update this to churn this into a magical cookie?

thankfully, pioneer woman (my bible to everything baked and lovely) gave me the perfect recipe for the most surreal experience:

a gorgeous crispy-on-the-edge cookie with a soft puffy cream cheese centre.
(i apologise, the dslr is out of order so got to make do with instagram on iphone.)

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Citrus Cupcakes

I can't believe I'm saying this - I'm so sick of chocolate. There, it's out.
I realised the past few recipes have been nothing but chocolate chips, chocolate powder, chunks... it's time for a refreshing break.

Refreshing is the key word here. Over in Singapore, it's summer all year round - meaning hot, rainy and humid all the time.

When I think refreshing, i think lemons, citrusy fruits. So i thought hey, let's put all my favourite citrus fruits into one cupcake.

funnily enough, I thought the fruits might 'fight' each other but no, it turned out to a lovely experience!

Recipe for Citrus Cupcakes after the jump.

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Muffin Tops

what is the perfect muffin?

The perfect muffin has a thin brown crust, a slightly rounded top with a pebbled appearance and a moist, even interior. There should be no peaks, no tunnels which are usually caused by excessive mixing and too much liquid (muffin batter should not be fluid).

- Diana Baker Woodall of Diana's Dessert

When I first made this recipe, i failed miserably. and sorry to break everyone's heart but it was nigella lawson's chocolate muffin recipe and the muffins came out kind of sad and depressed.

 

they tasted great but looked miserable! like a handsome sad man. almost like sad keanu (i said almost.).

 

so i searched for the perfect muffin recipe - baring in mind that the batter needed to be thick and and the end result needing to be crusty with a smooth and moist interior. I mixed and match, carefully making sure the flour and wet ingredients and none is up staging the other.

 

and i did it.

 

most beautiful batch of muffins:

 

 

Here's the Perfect Chocolate Muffin recipe - keep exactly to the measurements and you'll be surprised. oh, and no butter!

 

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