Chinese Peanut Cookies

Apparently today, April 9, is National Chinese Almond Cookie Day. I don't know who the heck comes up with these extremely necessary special days. I can understand if they decide to have International Chocolate Appreciation Day, or Cereal Day, but National Chinese Almond Cookie Day just doesn't make any sense to me as a legitimate day day. But whatever.

These are Chinese peanut cookies, which my mother often makes during the Chinese New Year period. (mid-February) They neither look, taste, nor feel like Chinese almond cookies, which, although I personally have not tried, seem to be flatter, crispier and obviously has a sweet almond fragrance instead of an earthy peanut one.

I've made these Chinese peanut cookies on two occasions so far, and they have gotten great feedback both times. Lots of this feedback comes from the voice in my head which goes, "Mmm..." after every cookie.

It all starts with this bad boy right here.

This cookies are best made with a friend or any other living thing which can provide you with an extra pair of functional hands, which will be ideal for the tedious task of rolling the cookie dough into Maltesers-sized balls.

Chinese Peanut Cookies

(makes 2-3 tupperware-boxes)

Ingredients

200g raw unsalted peanut (without skin)

300g plain flour

120g icing sugar

1 1/2 tsp baking soda

3 tsp baking powder

2 tbsp creamy peanut butter

175ml peanut oil

1 egg  - lightly beaten (for glazing)

Method

1. Spread the peanuts on a baking sheet and roast in the middle of a preheated oven at 175C for 15 to 20 minutes, stirring them once or twice during cooking time. (If your peanuts are salted, rinse them with water and dab them dry before placing them in the oven.)

2. Crush the peanuts very finely, until they are as close as possible to powder form. (This is going to take forever, be prepared. Unless you have a fancy appliance like a food processor or whatever.)

3. Put all the above ingredients (sift the flour and baking soda and powder) and the roasted ground peanuts (except for peanut oil and egg) into a big mixing bowl and mix well. Heat the peanut butter slightly for easier mixing.

4. Add peanut oil and mix it into a dough.

5. Roll and gently press (the dough is quite fragile) them into marble-sized balls and place on ungreased baking trays.

6. Egg wash them before baking in preheated oven at 175C for 15 to 20 minutes or until slightly browned. 

7. Cool on trays and put them in an air tight container.

Roasting peanuts

The fragrance will fill your kitchen like no other.

Look at me trying to be all creative.

Dad: It looks like the Incredible Hulk.

2013 is the year of the serpent.

 The result of all this hard work is loads and loads of melt-in-your-mouth, bite-sized cookies which are just firm enough to hold, but crumble immediately as you bite into them, disintegrating into buttery, nutty goodness.

If you don't have a blender or food processor, you are stuck with a rolling pin and a ziploc bag. During my second time making these cookies, I gave up with the crushing and ended up with a few crumbly bits of peanut, which I could feel in the end product, which disturbed the powdery, little-particle texture of the cookie. A sieve is a good tool to use to ensure that the peanuts are close to powder-form.

You can find peanut oil in most Asian supermarkets.

Enjoy!

Happy Easter! – Cadbury

Happy Easter! Probably the only real reason why everyone loves Easter is because of the chocolates. This causes half of every supermarket to be filled with bunnies and eggs of all types and brands.

Cadbury is the obvious captain of the team – no supermarket is legitimate without their range of Easter chocolates. Cadbury is the staple brand of Easter.

These notorious sugar-bombs are everywhere between January 1 and Easter Day. They come in bite-sized versions, ice cream bars, splat-shapes, McFlurries, and everywhere else you never thought they could go.

Hey, look, they still care about the resurrection of Jesus Christ!

These eggs can be eaten in at least two bites, and are as substantial as a chocolate bar. Once bitten into – if you don't break a tooth – gooey, sweet fondant says hello, like an verbally-advanced baby in a cradle.

The yolk makes its appearance after some disgraceful licking, or another bite.

However, you don't really want to eat loads of these. Put simply, a creme egg is liquified, flavoured and coloured sugar surrounded by a layer of milk chocolate. You eat it because it'll only be here for three months, but they're not something I would kill to have.

Although not much better health-wise, I prefer the Caramel Egg over the Creme Egg. You get caramel in chocolate bars all the time, and they are a familiar flavour – they have great flavour. The fondant in a Creme Egg is sweet, but flavourless.

This is a really bad, good chocolate treat, if you know what I mean.

My sister bought one of these to experiment having them placed in her wedding favour goodie bag, and I ended up taking it home afterwards.

The pastel-coloured eggs are realistically speckled, and have a matte, powdery texture, resembling an actual egg, except for the fact that it's a quarter of an egg's size.

Much like a fat m&m, a Mini Egg is milk chocolate covered with a thin, candy coating. These are easy to pop in your mouth one after the other after the other after the other after the other, and don't disappear in your mouth as quickly as an m&m. You get to bite and feel some chocolate melt in your mouth before it all goes away.

Happy Easter, and watch those chocolates!

Bonfire night

I was told that something involving fireworks would occur early November, but I had to get the full story through many very international-student-like questions.

So basically, sometime ago, this guy called Guy Fawkes tried to blow up the parliament, (i.e. Big Ben and the golden building around it) but he got stopped, and at this time every year, people celebrate the fact that they didn't get blown up, by releasing fireworks and having bonfire parties.

I wasn't too sure of who this person was until I did a quick Google search.

Just a little bit creepy. Just.

Of course, that isn't actually Guy Fawkes, but it is the mask featured in the movie V for Vendetta (which I have to admit I haven't actually watched and should probably get round to doing it) which was inspired by, er, his face.

Anyway, Mr C brought us round to the house at the end of the street, together with some cheddar and feta cheese, bruschetta (which were burnt in the oven, thanks to Fuyumi and I, but saved, thanks to Mr C) cucumber, breadsticks, and salami slices. It was a mini garden gathering on a very cold night, but it was all pleasant thanks to the bonfire and extremely powerful patio heater.

Fuyumi and I nicked some food from the party despite knowing that there was pasta waiting for us at home. I made ourselves a wrap containing veggies, salmon, chicken tikka and yogurt. Sounds dodgy but actually made for a pretty interesting flavour combination. We also had some thick omelette which I initially mistook for quiche, and a few sausages as well as a roasted marshmallow each. The whole atmosphere was lovely, with stars blinking in the sky and fireworks blooming like flowers occasionally, across the neighbourhood. We fired some from the garden as well, going "oooo" and "wooowww" every time one shot up.

I wish there was a bonfire night every month, it's such a nice way to experience the English suburban nights.

When we got home, we had a tiny portion of pasta (rigatoni and penne mixed) alla something-with-tomatoes-and-meat-in-it-probably-Bolognese-but-i'm-not-so-sure with grated parmesan on top, which is always comfort food.

Hm, I think I'm actually going to try to develop that salmon and chicken tikka wrap combination one day.

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