Raya's coming! And the Raya Grinch is back! Seriously. I can't remember the last time I was sooo looking forward to Hari Raya. I look forward only to food and yummy cakes and kuih which I will eat at one corner sitting quietly by myself hurhur. But this time round I'll have an 11.7kg toddler to handle. I do hope he won't be so cranky.
Anyway! Here's what I've been up to lately. Took Friday off so that I could have the four day long holiday dedicated for baking. Thursday was pineapple tarts at my mum's cos there is no way I'm gonna do tarts on my own with a baby to handle. We managed to make two batches for my mum's household and mine. Friday and Saturday was spent on Almond London, for three households. This, I did on my own and I literally spent the entire day on them cos every half an hour or so Junior wants my attention.
I managed to get him to sit quietly for a bit, but as expected no one activity lasts more than 10 minutes, so he was off again.
But it was worth a shot!
I gave Junior rubber bands in his own mixing bowl just like Mama's, so he can mix his "batter" too. He likes putting them in and out of the bowl. Then he moved on to pulling them and seeing the rubber bands stretch, and lastly he gripped the rubber band with his teeth and pulled and let go. Ouch. I thought he'd be smart enough not to do it again but he went on and on for like five times and cried every single time! Why Junior why! So that's that.
We found another thing that could keep him engrossed - ballooons! We got a free one from Giant last Saturday and he held on to it like he was carrying the Olympic torch! Sadly the balloon burst the next day. Oh wells. Served its purpose while we were grocery shopping haha!
So Almond London. My first time making them and I used my MIL's recipe. I didn't realise that making them into balls was gonna be so time consuming! And the dough didn't have eggs, making them more brittle. I added more ground almonds because I love the nutty flavour. So technically with these adjustments, can I call this my own recipe? HAHA. Here's what I used:
250g butter
350g - 400g flour (depending on the batter)
200g ground almonds
175g sugar
Baking chocolate, Tulip brand. About 3/4 of the packet used. I wanted to use others but Husband says this is the best, my colleague swears by it too so I stuck to this for now.
Chopped almonds for decorating.
Cream the butter and sugar, then add in ground almonds. Add the flour gradually until you get the consistency you want, which shouldn't be too brittle that you can't roll them into balls. I pinch the dough first with my fingers before rolling them so they will stick together.
Bake at 180 degrees Celsius for about 16 minutes, make sure crunchy!
Halfway through filling them up with chocolate! The chocolate is quite easy to handle, and hardens well. Maybe that's why Tulip is still the trusted brand. I wonder if using Valhrona will produce the same results but with wayyy better chocolate.
All done! Yay! Shipped off a whole bottle to MIL, and another bottle to my mum cos my baby sister wants some. I still have some leftover chocolate and almond to make probably half a batch if our stock is running low. This is Husband's second most favourite cookie after pineapple tart, and I'm really glad I can make them both and are Husband approved! Yay!
With that much baking, I am kinda missing my bundt pans and my cakes. I feel like making butter almond cake, or maybe chocolate almond cake very very soon, or maybe for our coming anniversary! Our third ♥ :) Dinner without baby, some quality time together. HAHA. Last year was dinner with baby, but he was manageable back then but now! Our dinners are always a quick, pass-the-baton kinda thing. No more peaceful dinners with him around! Looking forward to Wednesday! :)
And finally, this was taken yesterday, Junior exploring Ikea showroom! We stopped by for a while to get my air tight jars. He really loved this showroom with kids stuff. Haha. My little Ikea boy :) He still doesn't have much confidence walking around in public so it was good to see him exploring the showroom.
Anyway! Here's what I've been up to lately. Took Friday off so that I could have the four day long holiday dedicated for baking. Thursday was pineapple tarts at my mum's cos there is no way I'm gonna do tarts on my own with a baby to handle. We managed to make two batches for my mum's household and mine. Friday and Saturday was spent on Almond London, for three households. This, I did on my own and I literally spent the entire day on them cos every half an hour or so Junior wants my attention.
I managed to get him to sit quietly for a bit, but as expected no one activity lasts more than 10 minutes, so he was off again.
But it was worth a shot!
I gave Junior rubber bands in his own mixing bowl just like Mama's, so he can mix his "batter" too. He likes putting them in and out of the bowl. Then he moved on to pulling them and seeing the rubber bands stretch, and lastly he gripped the rubber band with his teeth and pulled and let go. Ouch. I thought he'd be smart enough not to do it again but he went on and on for like five times and cried every single time! Why Junior why! So that's that.
We found another thing that could keep him engrossed - ballooons! We got a free one from Giant last Saturday and he held on to it like he was carrying the Olympic torch! Sadly the balloon burst the next day. Oh wells. Served its purpose while we were grocery shopping haha!
So Almond London. My first time making them and I used my MIL's recipe. I didn't realise that making them into balls was gonna be so time consuming! And the dough didn't have eggs, making them more brittle. I added more ground almonds because I love the nutty flavour. So technically with these adjustments, can I call this my own recipe? HAHA. Here's what I used: 250g butter
350g - 400g flour (depending on the batter)
200g ground almonds
175g sugar
Baking chocolate, Tulip brand. About 3/4 of the packet used. I wanted to use others but Husband says this is the best, my colleague swears by it too so I stuck to this for now.
Chopped almonds for decorating.
Cream the butter and sugar, then add in ground almonds. Add the flour gradually until you get the consistency you want, which shouldn't be too brittle that you can't roll them into balls. I pinch the dough first with my fingers before rolling them so they will stick together.
Bake at 180 degrees Celsius for about 16 minutes, make sure crunchy!
Halfway through filling them up with chocolate! The chocolate is quite easy to handle, and hardens well. Maybe that's why Tulip is still the trusted brand. I wonder if using Valhrona will produce the same results but with wayyy better chocolate.
All done! Yay! Shipped off a whole bottle to MIL, and another bottle to my mum cos my baby sister wants some. I still have some leftover chocolate and almond to make probably half a batch if our stock is running low. This is Husband's second most favourite cookie after pineapple tart, and I'm really glad I can make them both and are Husband approved! Yay!
With that much baking, I am kinda missing my bundt pans and my cakes. I feel like making butter almond cake, or maybe chocolate almond cake very very soon, or maybe for our coming anniversary! Our third ♥ :) Dinner without baby, some quality time together. HAHA. Last year was dinner with baby, but he was manageable back then but now! Our dinners are always a quick, pass-the-baton kinda thing. No more peaceful dinners with him around! Looking forward to Wednesday! :)
And finally, this was taken yesterday, Junior exploring Ikea showroom! We stopped by for a while to get my air tight jars. He really loved this showroom with kids stuff. Haha. My little Ikea boy :) He still doesn't have much confidence walking around in public so it was good to see him exploring the showroom.
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