MIDDLE-EARTH COOKIES

Somebody from the office journeyed through “Middle-earth” last week and brought back Whittaker’s Artisan Chocolate bars in a variety of exciting flavours.  

Not everyone likes white chocolate. Someone definitely doesn’t so he gave his chocolate bar to me. I turned it into a cookie experiment. 

I've to say that the new flavour - Hawke’s Bay Braeburn Apple with Vanilla White Chocolate - is rather odd.  I used salted butter and flaky sea salt in the recipe and they balanced off the very sweet white chocolate quite suitably. 

WHITE CHOCOLATE CRANBERRY MACADAMIA COOKIES   

Makes 20

115 grams salted butter, at room temperature 

55 grams light brown sugar 

50 grams granulated sugar 

1 large egg, at room temperature, slightly beaten 

185 grams all-purpose flour 

1/2 teaspoon baking soda 

1/2 teaspoon fleur de sel (or whatever flaky salt you like) 

55 grams Braeburn Apple with Vanilla White Chocolate, coarsely chopped

80 grams sliced dried cranberries 

60 grams toasted macadamia nuts, coarsely chopped   

In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda and salt.  Set aside.   

In a mixing bowl, beat the butter until creamy and smooth then add the sugars. Continue to beat until the mixture is very light in colour and texture.   

Beat in the egg a little at a time, beating well after each addition.  Stir the flour mixture until combined, then mix in the chopped chocolate, dried cranberries, and chopped nuts.   

Cover and chill the batter until firm. (I like to let it rest overnight.)   

To bake the cookies, preheat your oven at 180 degrees C. Line two baking pans with parchment paper.   Form the cookie dough into rounds about the size of a large unshelled walnut. Place the mounds evenly spaced apart on the baking pans, and press down the tops to flatten them so they are no longer domed and the dough is even.   

Bake the cookies for 10 minutes, rotating the baking pans midway during baking, until the cookies are slightly browned.

Leave the cookies in the pans for about 2 minutes to firm up a bit, then transfer to wire racks to cool completely. 

Enjoy!

SaveSave

关于筷子的典故

有沒有人发現在日本餐桌上 筷子都是横放在自己与食物的中间呢？

据说是因為日本人认为万物皆有神...

每个食物都有代表的神庇佑

橫放的筷子則象征了人与神的界线

用餐前先說句：itadakimasu（承领 ／I humbly receive）

先谢谢上天恩賜

才把界线拿走

用感恩的心享用眼前的餐点。

文和图取自 NATURAL KITCHEN

QUICK COOKIE

Made peanut butter cookies today.  I already have the ingredients -- flour, butter, brown sugar, caster sugar, peanut butter and eggs -- on hand so everything came together in a snap.

Baking time is only 10 minutes.  One recipe churns out a great many cookies.  The recipe says it'd yield 40 cookies but I got far more than that.  I didn't count but there are A LOT, ok?!

These peanut butter cookies are crisp on the outside and almost cakey on the inside.  

The combination of sweet and salty flavours is terribly hard to resist.

小确幸

如果没有小确幸，人生只不过像干巴巴的沙漠而已。

- 日本作家村上春树

“小确幸” (small but definite happiness) 一词的意思是微小而确实的幸福，取自日本作家村上春树的散文，每一个小确幸持续的时间3秒至一整天不等。

在村上春树的随笔集《兰格汉斯岛的午后》中有一篇名为 〈小确幸〉 的短篇散文。在文章中，村上说他自己选购内裤，把洗涤过的洁净内裤卷摺好然后整齐的放在抽屉中，就是一种微小而真确的幸福。   

今早看过牙医后，在熟食中心点了一碗花生粥。朴实的美味，再加上卖粥大哥的叮咛：小心烫蛤！对我而言这就是小确幸。