THIS BLOG HAS MOVED~

Hey guys,

For a long time now, I've been debating on migrating this blog to another platform, under another identity. This has now mostly become reality!

You can find all my posts and recipes at blueblossomsbaking.wordpress.com
All new content will only be posted there from now on.

I'm still in the process of re-linking all the posts and everything on the new blog, so some of the links still lead here, which is why Flameshaft's Cooking is still up on the interweb. Once I am done cleaning the cobwebs and made the new blog independent, I will be removing this one.

I'll post once I'm ready to delete this blog, so you guys know.

I hope your days are filled with sweets :D

Mint Ganache-filled Chocolates

Yesterday, my 6-yo niece opened up my 2 bars of dark baking chocolate, and messed up the packaging enough that I couldn't re-wrap them. I was afraid of them getting dirty or eaten by mice, so I decided to make mint chocolate truffles. Then on a whim, I asked my cousin B if she happened to have chocolate molds.

The answer: YES!

Therefore, I went and made an improved version of the encased chocolates I failed at before.

This second attempt at tempering chocolate worked well. I guess it did help that I didn't get interrupted midway because dinner needed to be made and I needed to move away from the stove. I first filled the molds (half-spheres and heart shapes) with the chocolate, then upended them to form hollow shells. 10 minutes in the fridge, then I could fill them with my prepared minty ganache.

After another 5-minute nap in the fridge, I covered the bottoms of the chocolates with more tempered chocolates and let them nap some more in the fridge.

Today, I took advantage of the daylight to snap some nice pictures. The top (shell) layer of chocolate is a bit thick for my liking, but I'm really glad that they turned out so nice! And I must say, that mint chocolate ganache is pretty addicting!

Honey Cinnamon Butter Cookies

These festive December 2016 cookies were baked as a gift. I had run out of all-purpose or pastry flour so I had to fall back on self-rising flour. I hunted around the internet, and came across this recipe.

For fun, I rolled these into coarse sugar so they would have a bit of a crunchy sparkle.

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RECIPE

  Ingredients

• 100 g butter, softened
• 13 g sugar
• 2 tbs (42.5 g) honey
• 150 g self rising flour
• cinnamon (optional)
• pinch of salt

  Procedure

1. Preheat oven 180°C.
2. In a mixing bowl, mix butter, sugar, and honey until smooth.
3. Sift in the flour, and add in cinnamon if using.
4. Roll into 16 balls and flatten slightly.
5. Roll into coarse, granulated sugar (optional).
6. Bake 8-10 mins until edges are browned.
7. Cool 10 mins on the pan before moving to a cooling rack to cool completely.

Shortbreads

Whew, it's been a long time since I last blogged about baking. I've been meaning to, but a combination of assignments/thesis writing and laziness have kept me away......

These shortbreads date from last fall, the first being cranberry shortbreads baked in October 2016. I made the dough into a long log that I attempted to keep fairly rectangular in cross-section, then sliced the dough into individual cookies after chilling. This does avoid the monotony that can come from rolling out the dough and cutting it into shapes. The down side is the shapes are more limited, as the dough is really soft prior to chilling.

It's been so long I can't quite remember why I baked to begin with, but I think it may have been to give to my dad's colleagues at the hospital...

Next are some peanut butter chip shortbreads, and some candied orange ones.

These were baked in November, for a get-together with my cousin L and a friend S. Last semester, we got together a lot to eat a quick dinner then spend the time working on our respective theses. I had felt like baking I recall, so these came to be.

The recipe for all the shortbreads is the same as these ones that I have made several times already. I just swapped out the filling.