Browsed by
Month: September 2013

Cooking with 宝贝 – Butter Cookies

Cooking with 宝贝 – Butter Cookies

I’ve been keeping this simple recipe so that I can bake this with 宝贝. I can’t remember where I copied it from though. I usually copy and paste interesting recipes into my phone notes.

She’s been clamoring to bake cookies ever since she did it at school and at Totts. She even went shopping for baking stuff with me. We bought a couple of cool gingerbread boy and girl cookie cutters which have been idling in the drawer for months.

We needed to bring food for her school’s pattern party and the same day was also Teacher’s Day so I thought, why not?? We made one for everyone in class, including her 3 teachers. We even made 2 more for her “bus” friends. We even had a lot of dough leftover for our own consumption.

The butter cookies were of the right texture – not moist and with the right crumbly taste. Pretty yummy actually and neither were they overly sweet. Definitely a recipe for keeps.

20130907-225518.jpg

I set her to the task of measuring out the ingredients. It trained her motor skills and it helped her with recognizing numbers in the hundreds. She diligently measured out the ingredients and set them aside. I only measured out the butter which was too difficult for her to cut up.

I kneaded all the ingredients into a big chunk of dough. Then it’s over to her again. She took the dough out bit by bit, flattened them and cut the shapes out with cookie cutters. I helped her lay them neatly on the paper lined baking trays as they were too soft to be handled by her. See all the misshapen ones out there!

We were mighty proud of the end results. 🙂

20130907-230134.jpg

Check out the little gingerbread boys and girls, pigs, rabbits and birds.

320g Butter (I used unsalted butter)
600g Self Raising Flour
150g Icing Sugar (I used normal sugar as I didn’t have icing sugar at home)
1 egg (lightly whisked)

Simple right? Just 4 ingredients. You can add crushed nuts and dried fruits to it. Or you can decorate the cookies with frosting after they are baked.

1. Mix the flour and sugar in a large bowl. My largest bowl was too small. I resorted to using my steel soup pot. :p

2. Add softener butter into the flour sugar mixture. Add the egg in.

3. Knead until the dough is formed.

4. Roll the dough. Flatten it. Cut out the dough with cookie cutters.

5. Bake them for 13-15 mins in a preheated oven for 180°C. If you are using an air fryer, bake the dough for 10 mins at 180°C in the baking tray. I used both because I was trying to finish the baking as soon as I could.

6. Once they are baked, leave them on the cooling rack. Store them in an air tight container when they are cooled. Or eat them all up! Very addictive. 🙂

Easy peasy. If 宝贝 and I can bake them, anyone can!

Food Diary Day 88 – white cabbage purée

Food Diary Day 88 – white cabbage purée

I’ve been slacking in updating my food diary BUT I’m still diligently introducing low allergenic food to 小小宝贝 every 3 days. I’ll try to update it as often as I can.

Today is white cabbage day!

20130903-223358.jpg

I love to eat white cabbage! You just need to lightly stir fry it to bring the sweetness out of it. It’s vastly versatile and can be paired off with most food. Best of all, it’s one of the low allergenic foods. Not only that, cabbage is a good source of beta-carotene, vitamin C and fiber.

Wash the leaves thoroughly. Cut them up into strips and steam them for 10 minutes.

20130903-223633.jpg

All my cabbages stuffed into the steamer blender up to it’s brim.

Then blend!

20130903-223749.jpg

I hope he will love it tomorrow.

Food diary summary…

Goings

Goings

I have received many letters of resignations, heck, I have even sent out termination letters.  But none has stirred such mixed feelings like the one that I have just received today. I had known that it would come eventually, for a long while ago actually.  But when it finally appeared, despite being prepared for it, it had the aura of finality.

In my line of work (sales), people come and go, we have got used to the high turnover rate.  But what made this person so special, was because I have been studying, playing, working with him practically almost all my life.  He was the 2nd person I recruited into the organisation after I was promoted to the rank of a manager.  He was someone I had highly depended upon during the course of work.  When I had no one to eat lunch with, he was my lunch companion.  He’s someone who was always around whenever help was needed.

Morale has been low since the restructuring and the departure of some influential bosses.  Some people put it behind and moved on.  Some don’t.  The organisation evolved. Not good, not bad, just very very different.

I’m going to be lonely once he’s gone.  Work will be all the more… work, now.  But life goes on.

Still, I’m very happy for him that he has finally found the courage to step out and pursue life outside this place.  It’s no mean feat, having been here for the last 9 years, to step out of his comfort zone.  I hope that he will be able to pursue his dreams and passion henceforth.

No more lunch kaki anymore, no more soundboard to bitch to, but at least he will be a happier person out there.

Sail forth, my friend, show the world what you can do!!!