Yin Yang Cookies #CreativeCookieExchange

Fudgy dark cookie on one side with chewy oatmeal cookie on the other side, these two halves complete or more importantly, complement each other.

This month’s Creative Cookie Exchange theme is love and hearts which started me thinking about what love really is, I mean, beyond the heady first rush and tumble of quick emotions, all the highs and lows that are often the hallmarks of young relationships. I’m talking about the comfortable love that settles in, where you can complete each other’s sentences and anticipate each other’s needs, and still thoroughly enjoy spending time together, laughing, traveling, playing. And that brought to mind yin and yang, the Taoist concept of two halves that together complete wholeness.

I’m not sure that’s something two people can ever truly accomplish, but let me just put it out there that this year, in just a couple of short months, my husband and I will celebrate 30 years of marriage and 32 years of laughing, traveling and playing together. Of raising babies to young women of whom we are most proud, moving about the planet making homes in six of the seven continents and sharing the joy of life with friends and family too numerous to count. We have been so blessed.

Since we are both flawed human beings (Ain't nobody perfect folks!) still growing and learning about each other and life, I will never complete him and he may never complete me. After this many years of experience, I believe that complementing each other seems a much more worthwhile goal anyway. Together, we make a pretty solid team. Just like these cookies. These aren’t traditional cookies for Valentine’s Day but bake them for someone you love anyway.

And just because everyone's thinking it anyway, this scene:

Note: Start early in the day to allow chilling time for the two doughs.

Ingredients for about 3 dozen cookies
For the yin:
1/2 cup, firmly packed, or 100g brown sugar
3/4 cup or 150g granulated sugar
1/3 cup or 75g butter, softened
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup or 125g flour
3/4 cup or 60g unsweetened extra dark cocoa
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon double-acting baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt

For the yang:
1 cup or 200g granulated sugar
1/2 cup or 115g butter, softened
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups or 156g flour
1 teaspoon double-acting baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup or 95g uncooked quick rolled oats

To decorate: handful each white and semi-sweet chocolate chips
Useful tool: 5 in or 13cm length of stiff wire for marking where to cut the cookie dough

Method
For the yin dough:
Cream your butter with the two sugars.

Add in the egg and vanilla extract and beat again.

Sift the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder and salt into the mixing bowl. Mix well until thoroughly combined.

Roll into a thick log about 2 inches or 5cm in diameter and cover tightly with cling film. Put the dough log in the refrigerator to chill for at least an hour.

For the yang dough:
Cream your butter with the sugar.

Add in the egg and vanilla extract and beat again.

Sift in your flour, baking powder and salt and mix well.

Add in the oats and keep mixing until thoroughly combined.

Roll into a thick log about 2 inches or 5cm in diameter and cover tightly with cling film. Put the dough log in the refrigerator to chill for at least an hour.

Try to get your logs the same approximate size

While the dough is chilling, bend your wire around the neck of a bottle, first one way and then the other, to make a tool the approximate outline of the division between the yin and yang.

Once the dough is well chilled, preheat your oven to 350°F or 180°C. Prepare your cookie sheet by greasing it with non-stick spray or lining it with parchment paper or a silicone liner.

Putting the two together 
Slice your two cookie dough logs into even slices. Use your wire tool to press down on the slices to mark where to cut them into two. You can, of course, do this free hand. But the pieces might not match up as neatly.

Use the tip of a sharp knife to cut each slice apart. Fit them back together, one half light, the other half dark, pressing gently to make them one on the prepared cookie sheet.

Decorate each with one white and one dark chocolate chip.

Bake in your preheated oven for about 12-15 minutes or until just done for chewy cookies.

Leave to cool for a few minutes in the pan, then remove them to a wire rack to cool completely.

Enjoy!

These would also be pretty cool for Chinese New Year, another holiday coming upon us shortly. Many thanks to Deepti of Bakingyummies for handling the hosting responsibilities this month!

Check out all the other interpretations of love and hearts from my fellow Creative Cookie Exchange bakers this month.

• Aloha Linzer Cookies by All That's Left Are The Crumbs
• Cheese Hearts by Bakingyummies
• Chocolate Valentine Sugar Cookies by Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Dark Chocolate Sugar Cookies by Flours and Frostings
• Double Chocolate Spritz Heart Cookies by The Spiced Life
• Happy Heart Lemon Cookies by Hezzi-D's Books and Cooks
• LoftHouse Cookies by Oven Delights
• Meringue Hearts by Noshing With The Nolands
• Nutella Raspberry Cookies by Upstate Ramblings
• Pomegranate, Rose and White Chocolate Cookies by A Shaggy Dough Story
• Sour Cream Pecan Sandies by Magnolia Days
• Stained Glass Heart Cookies by A Baker's House
• Sweet Heart Cookies by 2 Cookin' Mamas
• Yin Yang Cookies by Food Lust People Love

We get together once a month to bake cookies with a common theme or ingredient so Creative Cookie Exchange is a great resource for cookie recipes. Be sure to check out our Pinterest Board and our monthly posts at The Spiced Life). We post the first Tuesday after the 15th of each month!

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Pineapple Bundt with Kuih Tat Filling #BundtaMonth

A tender crumbed pineapple Bundt cake filled with pineapple jam, just like the Malaysian kuih tats or pineapple tarts made for Chinese New Year and Hari Raya. What are you celebrating?



When we moved to Kuala Lumpur for the first time in late December of 2001, we arrived as preparations for the Chinese New Year’s celebrations for the Year of the Horse got underway.  The whole month of January was filled with special offers and big sales in all the shops and the opening of many road-side stalls selling specialties of the season.

The one that caught my eye the most were small pineapple tarts, or kuih tat in Malay, because they seemed so exotic.  (The full name is kuih tat nanas, or  pineapple cake tart, with nanas meaning pineapple but it is often left off since everyone knows that kuih tat is pineapple.)  Sure, I had eaten pineapple a thousand times but not in baked goods or jam.  I discovered that pineapple jam is as common in the supermarkets of Asia as the ubiquitous strawberry spread you find in the rest of the world.  But it was new to me!

Traditional lion dance during a Chinese New Year celebration

When the tropical theme for March’s BundtaMonth was announced, the kuih tat popped into my head, because I wanted to share how easy pineapple jam is to make and how delicious it is as a filling in a Bundt cake.  It’s a great celebration cake, for Chinese New Year or for whatever you happen to be celebrating.

Make sure you scroll down to the bottom of this post to see all of the fabulous (and I am not even joking a little bit) tropical Bundt cakes that the group has created this month.

Ingredients
For the pineapple filling or jam:
1 fresh pineapple, about 1 lb 3 oz or 550g, after peeling and coring
3/4 cup or 175g sugar
Pinch salt
(Some Malaysian recipes call for spices or yellow food coloring but I prefer the natural flavor of the pineapple and the coloring is unnecessary.  This filling or jam turns the most amazing golden yellow color without it.)

For the cake batter:
2 1/2 cups or 310g flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 rounded 1/2 cup or 125g soft unsalted butter
3/4 cup or 175g sugar
2 eggs
1/2 cup or 120ml sour cream or crème fraîche or whole fat yogurt
1/4 cup or 60ml pineapple filling or jam

For the glaze:
1/4 cup pineapple filling
Pineapple juice to loosen the filling (maybe one or two tablespoons)
1 tablespoon butter

Method
To make the pineapple jam filling, pulse the pineapple in your food processor until it is cut into small pieces.  You don’t want it completely smooth so there should be small chunks.

Pour the chopped pineapple into a strainer over a small bowl or measuring cup to catch the juice.  Once the pineapple has stopped dripping, cover the juice and refrigerate until needed.

Cook the drained pineapple in a small covered pot for about 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Add in the sugar and cook over a low heat until the jam is sticky and pretty dry, stirring frequently.

It will turn slightly darker.  Transfer the jam to a bowl and allow to cool.  (You can put this in the refrigerator.)

Look!  Pineapple jam!  Also great on toast. 

When your pineapple filling is cool, preheat oven to 350°F or 180°C and prepare your Bundt pan by greasing or spraying liberally with non stick spray and adding a tablespoon or two of flour and shaking it around till the pan is coated.

To make the cake batter, measure your dry cake ingredients into a small bowl: the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.  Mix well.

Cream the butter and sugar together in a large bowl with beaters or in your standing mixer.

Now mix in 1/4 cup or 60ml of the pineapple filling, avoiding any liquid that has settled around the bottom in the jam bowl.

Then beat in a couple of tablespoons of the flour mixture, with one egg.

Then beat in another couple of tablespoons of flour mixture with the second egg.

Add the rest of the flour mixture and the sour cream and beat again.  (I actually used yogurt this time.)  The batter will be very thick.

Spoon just more than half of the cake batter around the Bundt pan.  Make a channel of sorts in the middle of the batter for the filling.  This should prevent the filling from leaking out while baking.

Use a small spoon to fill the channel in the batter with your pineapple filling, once again, using the driest bits.   Make sure to leave behind about 1/4 cup of the filling with the runny bits to use for the glaze.

Cover with the remaining batter and smooth the top.

Bake in the preheated oven for 45-50 minutes or until the cake starts to pull away from the sides a little bit.

Let the cake cool for 10-15 minutes and then loosen the sides with a small spatula or knife.  Turn the cake out on to a rack to finish cooling.

Meanwhile, warm the remaining filling to loosen it and add in a couple of tablespoons of reserved pineapple juice, if necessary.  When it’s all warm and shiny, add in one tablespoon of butter and stir well.

Once the cake is cool, use a pastry brush to add the glaze.

The national flower of Malaysia is a beautiful red hibiscus referred to there as Bunga Raya.   

Enjoy!

Here are the links to the great round-up of tropical Bundts we have for you this month:

Bananas Foster Bundt by Anita from Hungry Couple
Blue Hawaiian Bundt Cake by Tara from Noshing With The Nolands
Chocolate Bundt With Coconut Cream Cheese Filling by Karen from In The Kitchen With KP
Chocolate Coconut Bundt Cake by Kim from Cravings Of A Lunatic Coconut and Rum Tea Cake by Anuradha from Baker Street
Coconut Banana Bundt Cake with Rum Glaze by Lora from Cake Duchess
Coconut Bundt Cake by Holly from A Baker’s House
Coconut Lime Bundt Cake by Kate from Food Babbles
Hummingbird Bundt Cake by Heather from Hezzi D’s Books and Cooks
Hummingbird Bundt Cake by Jennie from The Messy Baker Blog
Lime Glazed Bundt Cake by Carrie from Poet In The Pantry
Mini Pineapple Bundt Cakes with White Chocolate Ganache by Alice from Hip Foodie Mom Pina Colada Bundt Cake by Renee from Magnolia Days
Vanilla Orange Bundt Cake with a Hint of Coconut by Laura from The Spiced Life
Very Vanilla Bundt Bake by Dorothy from Shockingly Delicious
White Chocolate Guava Cake by Kim from Ninja Baking