Chocolate Chips and Macadamia Nut Cookies

Any Famous Amos Cookies fans out there?????

Whenever I walked pass this cookie shop, the buttery-chocolatey aroma will lure me into it and I will feel a sudden urge to buy a few pieces. However, I always suppressed my desire after checking out the price. What?!?! S$5++ for 100g!! That will give you about 4-5 pieces perhaps. With that price tag, I chose to satisfy my craving but just inhaling the cookies. Haha.

One fine day, I was feeling rather depressed due to some work issues and thinking of buying something sweet to cheer myself up. It was at this moment I walked pass one of Famous Amos shop. The right place at the right time! Since I was feeling down, I decided to indulge myself in these extravagant cookies. Mistake! Big mistake!
The cookies tasted horrible! Well, at least in my opinion, they tasted way out of my standards. At the first bite, it tasted overly sweet followed by a awfully bitter after-taste. The cookie was more to the soft texture which is not to my liking.
I had to force the rest of the cookies down my throat as I didn't want to waste my money but I swear to myself I am not going to buy the cookies from this shop ever again! No matter how nice the smell is!

So I went online in search of some chocolate chips cookies recipes and began my "experiment" of baking the cookies to my liking. As I prefer cookies that are not overly sweet, with a crunchy texture and a slightly burnt after taste, the "experiment" took me some time.
After many attempts, I finally found this recipe which was in my honest opinion the best version.


Recipe from Bear Naked Food

Ingredients (makes 80 - 100 cookies)

• 300g self raising flour
• 250g unsalted butter - softened at room temperature
• 150g dark brown sugar
• 113g caster sugar
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp coffee oil/emulsion
• 1 large eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla essence
• 25g instant oats - grind to power in blender
• 25g ground almond powder
• 250g semi-sweet chocolate chips

Optional ingredient

• Macadamia nuts - pulse lightly in blender

Ingredients

Instructions

1. Beat the egg with coffee emulsion and vanilla essence in a small bowl, cover with cling wrap and let it infuse for at least 2 hours or overnight in fridge. Bring to room temperature before use.
2. Preheat oven to 160C (no fan force).
3. Beat the softened butter, salt and sugar (both dark brown and caster sugar) in a large bowl until light and fluffy.
4. Add in egg mixture (from Step 1), ground oats and ground almond powder. Mix well.
5. Add in chocolate chips and macadamia nuts. Mix well.
6. Lastly, sift in the flour and fold into the mixture.
7. For small cookies - use a small teaspoon to scoop from the dough. Drop the dough onto a baking tray lined with baking paper. Or you can roll them into mini balls. Place them slightly apart and bake for 20 mins or until golden brown.
8. For large cookies - use a tablespoon to scoop from the dough. Follow the same steps as the small cookies. Bake for 27-30 mins or until golden brown.
9. Once they are done, place them on a cooling rack to cool completely. Store in air tight containers.
10. They will taste even better the next day as the flavour develop further.

 **NOTE**

•  The dough will expand during the baking process. So do ensure the cookies are placed at a distance apart unless you want to end up with ONE BIG cookie. I made the mistake of placing them too close and ended up with a cookie "pizza".
• I prefer to add flour first, followed by the chocolate chips as I feel it's very challenging to fold/mix the dough if I add in the chocolate chips first.
• You can add in any other ingredient which you think can complement the cookie well.
• I personally prefer bite size cookies where it's easier to put the whole cookie into my mouth.
• If the dough is too soft to manage, put it into the fridge for a while.
• Scooping of the dough using a spoon may require some technique. So rolling them into balls may be another option. But do bear in mind the warmth of your hand/palm may soften the dough. So you need to work quickly.
• The dough may be too soft to use cookie cutters. But there is no stopping you from trying!
• The cookies will stay crisp in an air tight container for about a week.

Beat the egg, coffee emulsion and vanilla essence
together and leave in fridge for 2 hours or overnight

Add in salt to softened butter

Add in sugar

It may look like a lot of sugar but the taste is just nice

Beat the mixture

Until light and fluffy

Add in egg mixture

Add in ground oats

Add in ground almond powder

Mix well

Add in flour and mix well.

Add in chopped macadamia nuts

Here comes my favourite part - Chocolate Chips!

Beat or fold well. I prefer to beat.

Scoop using a teaspoon/tablespoon

Before baking

After baking

By this time, my princess will be attracted to the aroma
like a bee to nectar.

 

 

Frankly, this recipe is not that difficult to work on. You just need to make sure you prepare all the ingredients well before hand and then add in one by one. So easy right?
I usually get my princess to help with the "bait" that she gets to savour them later. Aha! With that promise, she will become the most capable assistant. Haha.
I do cherish such bonding time with her though. Not only can I get her to develop an interest in baking, I also get to see her creativity as well when she came up with funny/weird cookie shapes.

Now I can have all the chocolate chips and macadamia nuts cookies without breaking my piggy bank.

So so so good until you can't stop at one!

You can see the exclusive container
for the princess

Family Road Trip - K.L/Genting Highlands - Day 5

Home Sweet Home

Do you feel that time passes by so quickly when you are enjoying yourself? I certainly felt this way for our family trip.
It was our last day of the trip and time to make the dreaded car journey back home.

Keeping herself occupied during breakfast

After a light breakfast, we started our drive down south, making one lunch stop along the way.
By the time we finished our KFC lunch, it was close to 2pm and we decided to head straight to the causeway without stopping at Johor for shopping/dinner.
As my brother and sister in law intended to stay an additional night at Johor, we sent our Dad home in our car.
Crossing the causeway at about 3pm was a breeze. There was no traffic at all! It was certainly the first time I've experienced such smooth flow.

It's been a while since I had KFC

Playing with my hat

Just look at the number of toys she received
during this trip!

It was definitely a wonderful trip that was well-planned by my brother. All we did were to follow his cues, eat and pay up! So easy!
My heart was filled with gratitude to be able to have such family bonding time. It was our first trip and I'm sure it won't be the last.
The only drawback is the mode of transport. I really find travelling in a vehicle, seated upright for a few hours a torture. Coupled with the fear of not being able to locate a nearby toilet if required, I tried to drink less water, resulting in a sore throat a few days after the trip.
It probably had the same effect on my princess as she came down with a high fever on the night we arrived back in Singapore.
So, I guess it would be a long time and an even awful lot of persuasion before I agree to another road trip again.

Or perhaps, can we go somewhere nearer ah?



<---- Family Road Trip-KL/Genting Highlands-Day 4

Family Road Trip - K.L/Genting Highlands - Day 4

Pavilion Kuala Lumpur (Lunch at Pizza Hut and Movie at Gold Class)
Hotel Christmas Dinner

A Good morning to Christmas Eve!

We started the day early with the routine breakfast at the hotel as we predicted the crowd will be crazy as the day progressed. Unfortunately, the food and service were still below par. So we had a quick breakfast and left.

As we had no plans to visit any places of interest for the day, we decided to visit Pavilion Kuala Lumpur for lunch and a movie.

While I brought the princess for a quick dip at the hotel swimming pool, my other half went out for some shopping errands and volunteered to purchase the movie tickets for all of us.
It was probably the first time I've watched a movie with my family in my impression and I do count my blessings to be given such a chance.

Lunch was at the family-friendly Pizza Hut, be it the food variety or on our wallet. The price was half or even lesser compared to what we paid back home. Wow!

 

After a super filling lunch, we headed to the Gold Class lounge before the movie and to our disbelief, there was no staff there! Gasp! I had to leave the lounge to inform one of the staff stationed outside about the situation and a staff finally appeared after a good 10 minutes. Upon seeing us, there was no greetings or checking with us on our needs. We even had to order our drinks from the counter ourselves. Really bo-chup (don't care) attitude.
Now, this is Gold Class, you know! We didn't pay a premium for such lucklustre standards! But then again, I had to remind myself that I was in another country and it made me appreciate my homeland standards even more.

Her companion for the movie

We enjoyed the movie and I was impressed that the princess didn't get too frightened by some of the violent scenes. Like what she always tell me "Mummy, don't worry so much ok?" Haha.
Daddy brought her back to the hotel for a nap while I shopped around the mall on my own.
ME time!!!
I thought of having a massage or a pedicure done but all slots were fully booked. So I just roamed the mall and ended up buying more stuff for my girl. Haha. Mummy's

After a short rest in our room, we got ready to attend the grand finale of our trip - the Christmas dinner/party at the hotel!
When we arrived at the hotel lobby, we were wowed by the transformation that has taken place.
All tables have been rearranged, complete with party packs placed at each seat. There were additional food stations being set up (meaning more selection of food!) and even a caviar trolley! And the icing on the cake was that we paid only a fraction of the price compared to what we paid back home!
We were glad that our "tour guide" has reserved a table for our group and we were ushered to our table shortly.
In the midst of our dinner, there was also live Christmas carols from the hotel lobby adding to the festive atmosphere.
No wonder Santa Claus came by to share in the joy too. Ho Ho Ho! Merry Christmas!

The Christmas party pack

Do we look better with our party hats?

Or without hats?

Getting into the mood

The roving caviar trolley

Seafood on ice

Sushi

Pasta station

Tuna sticks

Hors d'oeuvres

The skinny Santa Claus. Hahaha.

What is Christmas without roast turkey?

Gingerbread House with condiments

The pastry section

This has got to be my princess' favourite section
ICE CREAM!

Logcake - a must have!

Merry Christmas!

It was indeed an enjoyable night - the cheerful mood, the comprehensive festive food variety and the whole venue setup.
My favourite had to be the dessert section. Just spoilt for choices looking at the array of inviting dessert in different sizes and colour.
What completed the beautiful picture was being able to spend such moments with my loved ones.

Wishing everyone in the family a wonderful Christmas!



<---- Family Road Trip-KL/Genting Highlands-Day 3 
                                                                 
                                                      Family Road Trip-KL/Genting Highlands-Day 5 ---->