Cookies and cupcakes Archives - Page 2 of 15

Blueberry Friands/Financiers

19|04|2024

Egg whites are never wasted at my place because the quickest, easist and most delicious way to use them up is my baking friands. Blueberry friands are by far the favourite at home. If you’ve never heard of friands, they are nothing but french financiers. They are popularly known as friands in Australia. There are barely any cafes that don’t sell them in Sydney and I love having them with my coffee.

These blueberry friands obviously don’t look like the traditional ones that are larger in size. These are coated in white chocolate and made in special molds to create the heart shapes. You could bake them in a muffin pan too and leave out the coating if you’re after a tea cake sort of thing. The coating of course elevates the apperance and gives it a fancy high-tea look. The white chocolate layer also complements the juicy blueberries within the friands.

If you like Blueberry desserts don’t forget to checkout this Skinny Blueberry Cheesecake or these Mini Blueberry Cakes

Blueberry Friands/Financiers
Makes 10-12 small friands

3 egg whites, lightly beaten with a fork
100 g butter, melted and cooled
3/4 cup pure icing sugar
1/4 cup plain flour
75 g almond meal
1 tsp vanilla essence
1/2 cup fresh or frozen blueberries

150 g white chocolate melts, melted
purple gel food colouring

Preheat oven to 180 degrees C. Lightly grease a madeleine mold (I used a 6 capacity mold) or any other sillicone mold. Place the egg whites, butter, sugar, flour, almond meal, vanilla in a large bowl and beat until combined (about 1-2 mins). Fold in the blueberries.

Spoon batter into molds until 2/3rd full. Bake for 20-25 mins or until friands are golden and cooked through. Remove from oven, allow to rest for 2 mins, then gently unmold onto a wire rack to cool completely.

Colour the white chocolate with 1 drop of purple food colouring. Pipe (or spoon) small amount of melted white chocolate into a 3-4 holes of a clean mold, gently press friands over the chocolate. Refrigerate for 30 mins or until set.
Add 2 more drops of food colour to the chocolate for a darker shade (if starting to solidify, warm to melt again). Repeat with remaining friands. Friands should easily come off the molds. Store in an air tight container in room temperature.

Mini Black Sesame Cake

17|03|2023

A mini black sesame cake or cakes have everything in them that makes you want to go back for seconds. They are nutty, warm, the swirls are striking to look at when you cut a cross section and they’re mini, indivudial sized portions. What is not to love, right?

Though it doesn’t look like it, the mini black sesame cake is actually really simple to make. The swirl is made from the same batter so it’s only a matter of mixing black seasme powder into a part of a vanilla batter. Black sesame powder can be found in supermarkets and asian stores or you could make your own by gringing black seasme seeds in a grinder or mortal and pestle.

To make these, I’ve used my favourite molds that provide a beautiful shape to the cakes. You can find them at my store under Mousse and Cake Molds. You also use any round or hemisphere mold.

If you love mini cakes, don’t forget to check out these Blueberry Mini Cakes or Mini Pistachio Cakes

Mini Black Sesame Cakes
Makes 6

1/3 cup (75 g) unsalted butter
1/2 cup (100 g ) castor sugar
1 egg
1 cup + 1 tbsp (133 g) self-raising flour
1/2 cup (120 ml) yoghurt
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tbsp black sesame powder
black food colour, optional
5.3 oz (150 g) black candy melts/white chocolate tinted with black colour, melted

Preheat oven to 180 degrees C. Lightly grease/spray 6 silicone molds.
Beat the butter and sugar together until pale and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition until combined.
Stir in half the flour and yogurt until just combined. Stir in the remaining flour, yogurt and vanilla until combined.
Remove 1/3 of the batter into a small bowl. Add the black sesame powder and food colour if using. Dollop some of the uncoloured batter into the molds, followed by the black sesame batter. Swirl using a wooden skewer. Bake for 20 mins or until a skewer comes out clean. Remove from oven. Gently unmold and cool to room temperature.

Spread molds with melted candy melts. Place cakes back into each mold. Allow to set in the fridge (15 mins). Unmold and decorate. Enjoy!

Mini Pistachio Cakes

13|02|2023

Nothing beats the beautiful colour and unforgettable flavour of pistachios. Paired with rosewater, it can create a treat that is divine. The Mini Pistachio Cake recipe involves creating the pistachio cakes first, then coating them in white chocolate that gives it the lustrous shine and gorgeous green colour.

Pistachios have been my favourite nut since childhood. They were present abundantly in both sweet and savoury dishes but I Ioved them the most in ice cream. the flavour was known as ‘kesar pista’ meaning saffron pistachio ice cream. Oh the beautiful taste, takes me on a walk down memry lane! Even a sprinkle of chopped pistachio is a dish adds flair and colour.

These pistachio cakes are pretty simple to make if you can get hold of a sillicone mold. A sillicon muffin mold will work as well even if you don’t find it in the fluted shape.

If you like mini cakes , dont forget to check out these Blueberry Mini Cakes

Mini Pistachio Cakes
Makes 6

1/2 cup (113 g) unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 cup (100 g) castor/granulated sugar
2 eggs
1/2 cup (63 g) self raising flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
100 g ground pistachios
1 tbsp (15 ml) milk
1 tsp rosewater (optional)
150 g Green chocolate melts or white chocolate + green gel colour
Whipped cream, to serve

Preheat oven to 190 degrees C. Lightly grease molds.
Beat the butter and sugar till fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time beating well after each addition.
Add the flour, baking powder, pistachios, milk. and rosewater Beat until just combined.
Using a piping bag or a spoon, pipe batter into molds. Bake for 18-20 mins or cooked through.
Remove from mold. Allow to cool.
Once cooled, spread cleaned mold with melted chocolate. Quickly insert cakes in the mold. Place in fridge to set (approx 15 mins).
Serve with whipped cream and edible rose petals.

Caramilk and Strawberry Madeleines

11|08|2022

Wow! Two back to back madeleine recipes. You might be wondering if there is a madeleine obsession happening here. Well, let me tell you that once you start baking these dainty Madeleines/french cakes aka caramilk cookies and strawberry cookies, you’re going to make them over and over again. So easy to flavour and decorate but thats not even the best part. The best bit is that the batter can be made ahead and stored in the fridge for upto 3 days. When you want them fresh, just bake them with your favourite fillings.

I filled half my batch with caramel sauce, then coated them in caramilk which is nothing but roasted white chocolate. The other half were filled with strawberry jam and coated in white chocolate (colored red).

I used these Madeleine molds to make them that make for easy release of the cookies.

The caramel sauce I used was was store bought and thick, almost the texture of dulce de leche. A thinner sauce might not hold up and get lost in the batter. That’s the only thing to be mindful of. Otherwise they are very simple and very delicious.

If you love Madeleine cookies, you’d love these Rosewater and Cardamom ones

Caramilk and Strawberry Madeleines
Makes 18

3 eggs
1/2 cup caster sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
3/4 cup plain flour
1/4 tsp baking powder
60g unsalted butter, melted and cooled
1/2 cup caramel sauce or dulce de leche
1/2 cup strawberry jam
100 g Caramilk, melted
100 g white chocolate, melted
red gel food colouring

Preheat oven to 200°C. Grease well, a 12-hole madeleine baking pan.
Place eggs, sugar and vanilla into a large bowl. Using an electric mixer, beat until thick, pale and doubled in volume. Gently fold in flour, baking powder and butter using a metal spoon. Cover bowl with cling film and place in the fridge for 30 mins or up to 3 days.

Pipe or place approx half a tablespoon of mixture into each prepared madeleine moulds. Pipe or carefully spoon 1/2 tsp of caramel sauce or strawberry jam. Cover with 1/2 tbsp of madeleine batter to encase the filling. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until golden and cakes spring back when pressed in the centre. Cool slightly before removing from moulds. Place on a wire rack to cool completely.

For the Caramilk cookies , pipe or spoon about 1.5 tsp of melted Caramilk into each clean mold of the pan. Gently place madeleines over the chocolate, pressing slighly. Place pan in freezer to set. About 25 mins. Remove from freezer. Madeleines should easily come off the pan. Store in an air tight container in room temperature.
For the strawberry madeleines, colour the white chocolate with 2 drops of red gel food colouring. Pipe (or spoon) small amount of melted white chocolate into a clean mold. Gently place madeleines over the chocolate. Repeat with remaining madeleines. Place pan in freezer to set. About 25 mins. ⁣
Remove from freezer. Madeleines should easily come off the pan. Store in an air tight container in room temperature.