Pressed Sugar Cookies

This cookie is an all time favorite in my family. I made them for Christmas before, and when my cousins came over, one of them loved these cookies. The next time he came over to my house he even requested that I make some for him. Sadly I wasn't able to bake any for him because I was busy with my school work. However, because tomorrow is Memorial Day and our families are having a family gathering, I made some cookies today to bring to his house tomorrow. I love how baking brings your loved ones happiness.


Not only are these cookies well-loved, but they're also pretty to look at. The hassle is cleaning up, but I think these cookies are worth it.

Pressed Sugar Cookies Recipe

Too bad I won't be able to post it on my blog. I did make a few changes to the recipe, however. What I changed was reduced the amount of butter to 1 1/2 sticks (3/4 cup) and the one cup of sugar to 3/4 cups of sugar. This way the cookies can be a little bit more healthy, albeit not much. The dough was at the right consistency.

Mixing the ingredients together is simple and quick.



The texture was very smooth.



This picture reminded me of snow. :)

This is what the dough should look like.

Here's my cookie press.

Tons and tons of cookies.


Sorry the pictures are so big, I uploaded them at this size and didn't find out until later, but was too lazy to reupload them.

My cookie press is very easy to use. When I was first deciding which brand and which type to buy, I was a bit nervous. After reading all those negative reviews about handles breaking off or something cracking, I wasn't sure which press would be better. Then I received this coupon from Michael's or Joanne's and my mom helped me buy this one. I think this press is worth the money and so far nothing bad has happened to it. Just make sure that your dough isn't too stiff, otherwise that might cause the press to break.

Variations:
Way healthier option is to reduce butter to 1 stick and sugar to 3/4 cup. This was what I accidentally did one time. I discovered that the dough wasn't sticking together, so I added milk in intervals until it formed one piece. The texture was crunchier (harder), but way healthier.

Here is another recipe that is similar to this one and I hope to try it out soon.


Update: So yesterday was Memorial Day and I brought these cookies to my family's friends' house and everyone loved these cookies. I also brought some to my cousin's house (he lived nearby to the family friends' house) and he was soo, soo happy when I gave these to him. He was all smiles when he saw the cookies which made me happy too. These cookies are well loved by everyone. So if you're looking for a cookie to bake, you should bake these.

Quick Soft Breadsticks

So today was my grandpa's death-day and my grandma invited my uncle and his family over to commemorate this day. I actually never knew my grandpa because I was born exactly a 1/2 year after his death. Anyway, for this day my grandma cooked a variety of dishes. I, on the other hand, made breadsticks.

These breadsticks are very simple to make and I was able to make them even though I am a beginner at bread making. I enjoyed kneading the dough, it actually has a very relaxing effect. If you're ever feeling angry or annoyed, you can also take out your anger on the dough. :) Afterward, you will feel happier.

Recipe here. Originally from recipezaar

I have baked bread before, but today was my first time actually dissolving yeast. The recipes I used before always said, "Dissolve yeast in water/milk.", but I never actually dissolved it because I was too scared of killing the yeast. So when today I used hotter than normal water and the yeast started dissolving, I was like "Oh no!".

A close up of the yeast bubbling. It was soo cool!

Luckily, yeast is supposed to do that. I used active yeast, so that's why I always dissolve it. In addition to adding yeast to water, I also added 1 tbsp of the brown sugar out of the 3 tbsp asked for in the recipe. So later on, I just added two tablespoons.


I stirred together the dry ingredients (flour, salt, brown sugar).

Then I added the sugar yeast water.



Stirred and stirred.

Then I added the vegetable oil and kneaded it in. The dough felt so smooth and nice.



Leave to proof.



Punch the dough out to get rid of air bubbles and roll it out into a rectangle.



Cut dough into strips; I used a dough scraper to cut it.



Shape the dough in strips or twists, depending on your preference.

Rest dough for 30 minutes. I took some precautions and covered the dough with saran wrap to prevent a crust from forming. I don't know if that really would happen, but I didn't want to risk it.


Bake and enjoy the delicious breadsticks.




When the bread is done, it might not look it, so just quickly sample a piece in the middle (use food scissors or risk "burning" your fingers, don't ask :)If it isn't done yet, just pop it back in the oven. I also took this chance to brush the tops with butter and to sprinkle some garlic salt.

Notes:
Brush a generous amount of butter before serving, sprinkle some garlic salt on top of that.

or

Heat up some spaghetti sauce (bolognese preferred)and use as a dipping sauce.

or

Sprinkle some cheese, grated or powder and bake.

I also think that this breadstick dough is suitable for making pizza. This is way easier than making the "actual" pizza dough because you don't even need a pizza stone for this dough.

Scones

I love making scones. I don't like how much fat they have because it's scary, but I have to admit, they taste really good. I made my first scones ever by using my Williams-Sonoma Sweet Treats cookbook. One of the blogs that I am following is Baking Bites, and if you aren't following it now, I recommend you to follow it. There are a plethora of recipes on that site that you will love. While browsing through the recipes, I happened to chance upon this scone recipe which, coincidentally, is exactly the same as the recipe from my Sweet Treats book. The only differences were the blueberries, lemon juice, zest and glaze. The proportions are all the same, but instead of blueberries, dried cranberries were used, and instead of milk, heavy cream is used.

Dry ingredients being mixed together.

Sugar is added.

Get the butter ready.


This time I used evaporated milk instead of heavy cream and milk. The evaporated milk was leftover from the egg tarts; I had just the right amount left. :)


Butter is about to be incorporated with the dry ingredients.

Dough after evaporated milk has been added.


Crasins.



Dough is rolled out into a rectangle...

then cut into pieces diagonally.


After baking.

Oopsies, accidentally burnt the bottoms. :) That always happens to me.


Right side up.

The texture of this type of scone.


Notes:
If the dough is still not totally smooth, add a bit more milk/heavy cream or w/e it is that you are using. If you add too much heavy cream to it, the scones will be burned easier when baking.

The milk/evaporated milk will result in a more bread like scone while heavy cream will make for a richer and a "crispy" crust.

I bake my scones at 375 F or less b/c of my oven, however, I need to extend the baking time to make sure the middle is cooked through.


Round scones with too much heavy cream = burnt bottoms, yes I know, again. :)

I also shape my scones into triangles or circles, it's personal preference.

Lemon Blueberry Scones
2 cups all purpose flour
1/4 cup sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
6 tbsp butter, chilled
3/4 cup milk
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
1 tbsp lemon zest
1 cup frozen blueberries

Preheat oven to 400F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
In a large bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Cut butter into 6-8 chunks and add to flour mixture, tossing to coat. Using your fingertips, rub the butter into the flour until mixture is sandy and butter is well distributed, with no pieces larger than a big pea.
Add in milk, lemon juice and lemon zest and stir until dough comes together.
Either keeping the dough in your mixing bowl, or turning it out onto a lightly floured surface, knead dough for about 1 minute. Flatten dough and add blueberries. Knead gently for 30-60 seconds to distribute them. Divide dough into two balls and press each into a disc about 3/4-inch thick. Use a knife to divide each disc into quarters and place scones on prepared baking sheet.
Bake for 17-22 minutes, until scones are golden brown.

Lemon Glaze (optional)
1 tbsp lemon juice
1/2 cup confectioners’ sugar

Whisk glaze ingredients together until smooth, then drizzle over still-warm scones before serving.

Just to clarify, I always check the blog's copyright rules to make sure that it is ok to post up the recipe on my blog. Posting up a recipe on x3Baking makes it easier to look at it.

Enjoy!

Raisin Buns

I always feel apprehensive when baking bread. It seems like a very complex process and I don't always have the necessary equipment, like a standing mixer or a bread machine. It's not like I need those, but it would be much more convenient. So I was lucky and found this awesome recipe. Happy Flour is so generous to allow me to post her recipe on my blog; her blog is awesome you should check it out.

I measured out the ingredients so that way people who don't have an electronic scale can just measure out the ingredients in cups/teaspoons/etc.

Ingredients
200g (1 1/3 cup) Bread Flour
100g (3/4 cup) All Purpose Flour
6g (1 packet) Instant Yeast (I used active yeast instead.)
55g (1/4 cup and 1/2 Tablespoon) Sugar
140g (a little more than 1/4 cup) Milk
1 egg
1/2tsp salt
45g (a little less than 4 tablespoons/half stick) Butter, preferably room temperature

100g (between 1/2-3/4 cup) Raisins
1tsp water for soaking the raisins







Directions

For instant yeast, all ingredients other than the butter and raisins are mixed together.

If you are using active yeast, measure out the milk and microwave it for 15 seconds or so, until it is lukewarm. Make sure the milk isn't too hot because you don't want to kill the yeast.

Now mix 1/2 tablespoon of sugar with the milk until it dissolves. Add in the packet of yeast and stir, making sure to coat the yeast with milk. Let the mixture sit for 10 minutes.




I whisked the flour, just in case.

While you are waiting, whisk the bread flour, all purpose flour, salt, and sugar. At this point, you can wait for the ten minutes to end or just pour in the milk and yeast mixture into the bowl and mix.


The egg is being mixed in.

Mix until the ingredients are very close to forming a dough. Add the egg and continue mixing. When the dough is formed, mix in the butter. Keep mixing until the butter is uniformly combined with the dough so that the dough is smooth and elastic. Don't worry if it seems very sticky, it's supposed to be like that.



Now, let the dough proof for 45-60 minutes, make sure to cover it. I covered it with a plastic wrap and let it proof for 60 minutes.


After proofing, this is what it looks like.



Prepare the raisins 5 minutes before the proofing time is up. Add the teaspoon of water to the raisins and mix to distribute the water. After five minutes, squeeze out the water in the raisins or dry them using a paper towel. The purpose of this step is to make the raisins moist without making the bread overly wet.






Raisins are uniformly kneaded in.


Dough is separated into balls.


That's a tablespoon.


Covering the balls to proof.

Afterward, place the dough on a lightly floured surface and flatten it. Add in the raisins in stages, so that way you can incorporate the raisins easily. Separate the dough into 55 gram balls, around the size of a tablespoon. I was able to make 13 portions. Rest the dough for 10 minutes.

After ten minutes pass, roll the dough into balls and place them on parchment paper on a baking sheet, or just grease the baking sheet.

Cover them with plastic wrap or something else and wait for 45 minutes for it to double in size. I waited for one hour. It depends on the temperature.


After they doubled in size,

I brushed on milk.

A closer picture.

Preheat the oven to 190 Celsius or 375 Fahrenheit.

Before baking, use a pastry brush to brush the buns' surface with milk. I don't know why we do this, but I did it anyway. I didn't notice any difference with the bun that didn't have milk brushed on.

Bake the buns for 10-15 minutes, until the tops are brown. Check from time to time.




Done baking! I might have made the tops too brown; I forgot to check them while doing the dishes. XD


The texture is seen here, not too clear though.


Cooling on the racks.


Optional: Brush the buns with butter after they are done baking. I didn't do that.

Note from Happy Flour: You can use this basic sweet buns dough to make any types of buns of your choice. If you prefer a softer buns, just add 1/2tsp of bread improver or softener.