Sable Viennois

I like my cookies with personalities. I like the naughty and nutty peanut butter cookies and the hippie, carefree oatmeal raisins. I love the crisp and sharp gingersnaps and the fun and happy chocolate chip. Gingerbread biscuits are wise and soft and caring. Snickerdoodles and crazy and kooky. Meringues and sweet and simple. French macarons are elegant and... french.

That being said, i think that the one cookie that REALLy lacks a personality are butter cookies. or shortbread. potato, potahto. So plain! So dry! So bland!

I don't know why i decided that sables, or french butter cookies, would be my first attempt at baking such cookies. To tell you the truth, i didn't know they were butter cookies until i read the recipe. I was lured by the pretty piped cookies i had seen in the picture. (WARNING! do not be lured by pictures. Except for mine. Mine are worth the lure)

But what can i say? The french make everything a little better. The excessive amount of vanilla really gave the little cookies OOMPHFT! and it was not as dry or bland as their shortbread counterparts.

What do you know? i may like butter cookies after all.

P.S. yes, i was baking during my prelim exam period. but do as i say, not as i do! But in my defense, baking is theraputic for me and it really helps me to calm myself down whenever i get the wrong value for 'x' for the umpteenth time.

Cookie Dough

I have realised i have been posting ice cream mix-ins and what-have-yous.
What can i say? i am in an ice cream phase.

The best part of cookie dough?
You don't even have to wait for this baby to bake/chill/set/cool/harden.

You just chuck it all in, whisk it together, and if you've got no ice cream to mix it into or sprinkle over, just pop a huge chunk into your mouth.

Done and done.

Almond Biscotti

What is a cuppa good joe without one of these babies?

I love biscotti.
Whoever came up with the idea of dunking these crisp, nutty cookies into piping hot caffine is a genius.

He deserves a nobel peace prize.

Pineapple tarts

Alright, arguably, this isn't really a tart.
But it is a cookie that is usually shaped like one. a small, cookie sized tart base with a rounded ball of pineapple filling right smack in the middle. We used to have it every Christmastime.

But the one thing about these 'tarts' is that sometimes, you would have to eat the pastry without the filling or the other way around. And you can't have that! The pineapple filling and buttery, crumbly pastry go so well together it would be a waste to even spend a nibble-full without either one.

S we solved the problem by encasing the whole ball of pineapple filling with a layer of crust. Sort of like a cake ball slash chocolate truffle. Problemo solved!

although, now, it isn't really a tart anymore, is it?

If you really have no clue on what pineapple filling is...
neither do I.

I just get it ready-made fuss-free, from my neighbourhood baking shop.

But if you're up to the challenge, i have found a wonderful recipe for you to make your own.

Or if you're really a lazy potato but still wish to reap the benefits of this crumbly confection, just thicken some pineapple jam. Won't be AS good, but still pretty darn delicious!

Chocolate Chip Cookies

What kind of baker would i be if i didn't have a chocolate chip cookie staple recipe?

And these cookies are 'da bomb.
crisp and brown on the edges and gooey and chewy and divine in the middle.

Man, I am still hungry.

If you want to shake it up a little, add white chocolate chips. Or butterscotch chips. Or peanut butter chips.
Well, whatever floats your boat.

I love walnuts and semisweet hersheys bake-able chocolate morsels.

Mmm.
Now ponder this: Should i ask for a giant tower of chocolate chips cookies for my sixteenth birthday 'cake'?
Fancy Schmancy sweet sixteen cakes are so overrated.

I'll have a leaning tower of choc. chip goodness.

Pros:
1. i don't need to CUT the cake into slices
2. You don't need to feel bad asking the hostess to cut you another slice. just nip one right off the tower.
3. i like cookies more than cake
4. i ESPECIALLY love these cookies

cons:
1. i might finish the whole cake myself

well, then.
it looks like i am having a birthday cookie tower.

Rolled Sugar Cookies

Baking, i have realised, is entirely dependant on the weather.
If it's too humid, macarons flop.
If it's too cold, yeasted breads don't rise.

If it is too HOT, you sugar cookie dough will become sugar cookie batter all over the front of your shirt, your hands, you counter top. Hell--even in your hair.

Sugar cookies make the best cookie gifts. Because it's hard to find anyone who doesn't appreciate a nice, crisp, buttery sugar cookie.
Plus, the ingredients are something you find in even the most basic of pantries.

I like to make them for valentines day.
Use heart cookie cutters to show the love.

Halloween? Make pumpkin sugar cookies! Christmas? Stars or trees!
the possibilities are virtually endless, as is your appetite when you have a jar-full of rejected sugar cookies in your cupboard.

sugar... overdose...

Olive Oil and Rosemary Crackers

Are you in a snacking mood?

And why go out to the nearby conviencence store and indulge in a packet of crisps or a tub of meh-quality ice cream when you could whip up a batch of these babies?

If you're the type that love teensy tiny bite-size, herby-flavoured, crisp crackers.
These are for you.

In fact.

this recipe makes too little.
Double it!
Triple it!

Have a jar full in your pantry so that people will make excuses to come on over to your place and snack on these crackers!
they will make you famous.

guaranteed.