Glenys’ Chocolate Chip Pecan Biscuits

With all the trials and tribulations in life, it’s important to keep perspective.  For instance, yesterday morning I was 6700 miles (or 10,800km) from my current location and the only way to cross that distance quickly was to strap myself into a flying metal capsule and trust God and pilot to get me there safely.  The first leg of the trip from Dubai to London was spent in the aisle seat next to a very nice man from Arizona who was going home after six months working on government contract in Afghanistan.  He hadn’t seen his family since September.  I didn’t actually chat with him as we sat together since it is nigh impossible to turn to talk to someone who is so close that his elbow spends most of the flight in your left ribs, but, at one point we were waiting to use the bathroom, along with our third seatmate, Mr. Window who was from Austin, and then we did chat.  Turns out both men had been in the army years ago and were now working in Afghanistan under amazingly challenging conditions.  They are, in fact, in harm’s way most days and live daily with limited electricity and minimal facilities.

Mr. Middle and Mr. Window didn’t know each other before so they compared notes about locations and exchanged tidbits of information about the end of US troop involvement in Afghanistan.  I listened to them talk of time away from family and plans for the future (Both hope to work in the US again when they can find good jobs at home.) and it confirmed for me that everyone has a story.  Every soul on that plane was traveling for a reason.   Holidays, funerals, family visits, business meetings, to seek better medical care or who knows why.  Some travel with reluctance, some with excitement but all with a purpose, even if it is just to see the world.   This life should be about getting to know each other’s stories, don’t you think?   And appreciating the blessings of our own.

Today I want to share a recipe with you that a dear friend made for the movers as she packed up from a freezing house in London to move to one that actually had working heaters.  She said that the moving guys liked them so much that they asked for the recipe so she shared it with me as well.  I don’t know which moving company she hired, but I can tell you, they have good taste!

Ingredients
125g or just little more than 1/2 cup butter
50g or 1/4 cup caster sugar

125g or 2/3 cup brown sugar

1 egg

1 teaspoon natural vanilla essence or extract

250g or 2 cups flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

150g or a 5 1/3 oz chocolate chips
125g or almost 4 1/2 oz pecans (You can substitute with walnuts if you want but the taste will be slightly different.)



Method
Preheat your oven to 375°F or 190°C and grease your cookie sheet well.

Pop your pecans in a baking pan into the preheating oven so that they can toast a little.  Watch them carefully to prevent burning and remove and allow to cool once they are slightly toasted.

Cream the butter with both of the sugars until light and fluffy.

Beat in the egg and add the vanilla.

Chop your toasted pecans and set aside.

Sift in the flour with the baking powder and salt.  Beat well to mix.

Fold in the chocolate chips and the nuts. 


Drop the dough by spoonfuls or with a small scoop on to the well-greased baking sheet, leaving space around each to allow for a little spreading.

The first batch stayed very round so for the second pan, I mashed them down a little with a spatula for a flatter cookie.

Bake for 15 minutes or a bit longer if you prefer a crunchy cookie to a soft one.  Cool on the baking sheet and eat!

Some of the rounded first batch.

Enjoy!

Some of the flatter second batch - both were fabulous cookies.

Strawberry Muffins #MuffinMonday

The perfect muffin recipe to add your favorite extras too. Great with strawberries, blueberries: raspberries, dried cranberries, chopped strawberries, grated apples, chocolate chips, raisins, nuts, cinnamon sugar, etc.

Nothing fancy here, folks, just some good simple muffins with strawberries.  I’ve posted this recipe before but it was quite a while ago and so I figured quite a few of you might not have read it.  It comes from the Houston Chronicle Flavor section and is so quick to make that I woke up that morning, read the paper while drinking my first cup of coffee and then had the muffins made before anyone else came down for breakfast.   If you measure and mix efficiently, you can have these in and out of the oven in 30 minutes.  After the first cup of coffee, of course.  Without coffee, I am thinking 45 minutes tops.

Our #MuffinMonday host, Anuradha, prescribed the strawberries.  The recipe was up to us!

Ingredients
2 cups or 250g all purpose flour
3/4 cup or 170g sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup or 240ml milk
1/2 cup or 115g unsalted butter (melted) or ½ cup canola oil
(I’ve made this many times and either butter or oil makes a delicious muffin.)
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 large eggs
1 generous cup or about 175g fresh strawberries
Alternative additions in place of the strawberries: raspberries, dried cranberries, chopped blueberries, grated apples, chocolate chips, raisins, nuts, cinnamon sugar, etc.
Optional: powdered sugar to serve

Method
Preheat oven to 400°F or 200°C.  Generously grease cups and top of 12-cup muffin tin or line with paper cups.

Mix flour, sugar, baking powder and salt together.

Hull and chop your strawberries.   I also give them a good rinse before cutting and then dry them in a towel.

In another bowl, whisk together milk, canola oil, vanilla and eggs.

Add all the milk mixture to flour mixture, then gently fold just until dry ingredients are moistened.

Then fold in your strawberries or your alternate ingredients.

Divide your batter relatively evenly between the 12 muffin cups.

The cups are going to be pretty full. 

Bake 20-25 minutes or until muffins are golden.

Remove from oven and let cool 10-15 before removing muffins from tin.

Once they are cool, you can sprinkle on some powdered sugar if desired.

This recipe can also be baked as a cake, if you don’t have a muffin tin.  Extend baking time by five to 10 minutes or, once again, until golden.

Enjoy!

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