that's all folks!

Its been a whole year and I've enjoyed every minute of it. I've learnt so much from this amazing cookbook and am really happy i was able to finish  and not give up half way through. That just shows how much fun it was! Sixty recipes done! Cakes, cookies, muffins, brownies and pies, I've done it all.

60.gingerbread men
I was excited to make these famous cookies and find out what they are all about. There were lots of ingredients in it but one in particular surprised me. Cinnamon, ginger, all spice and nutmeg were all expected and of course, dark brown sugar.

 

 

Now here is the ingredient that surprised me. I bought black treacle for this recipe and was expecting sweet but i tasted it and it was like cough medicine. Not very nice. It was very thick and so black, looked like something that belonged in a car engine and not in my kitchen.

 

 

 

After resting in the fridge wrapped in cling film overnight, i rolled out this dough, cut out the gingerbread man shapes and baked for about 15 minutes.

 

The black treacle taste kind of ruined it for me. That didn't stop them from looking pretty. Decorating them was the fun part and I got quite into it. I coupled them up and gave them all identities, i don't know how i'll bring myself to eating them.

 

sexy and i know it

work,work,work man and clean,cook,knit housewife

too cool to smile

There were some casualties...

and a grumpy old man

 

Thank you so much to everyone who has been reading my blog this past year or even just stopped by once. I really appreciate you all. The hummingbird bakery cookbook project is over but there is more sweetartbytemi to come so keep checking in.

 

our stars

I lost my grandmother earlier this year and every so often i find myself thinking about her, fighting back tears. I very quickly see her smiling face asking why I'm crying like I'm being silly for doing so and assuring me she is fine, so i smile. I miss her a lot and find it hard to believe i won't ever see her again. Lost loved ones are gone physically but are with us always in the happy memories they left behind and that's why i always share a smile with my grandmother at random times of the day. Everyday is a struggle to be a better person and make her proud of me. I believe she and all our loved ones who are no longer here are smiling and watching over us like stars in the sky. I pray for peace and strength for all the people who have ever lost someone. Smile.

59.sugar cookies

These are basic cookies. Butter, sugar, flour, egg. An unusual ingredient was cream of tartar. It is a by-product of wine production. It is not a leavener but when combined with baking soda it is. I found that cream of tartar helps to stabilize beaten egg whites and is also added to sugar syrups to prevent crystallization. Quite a useful discovery. My guess is its purpose in this recipe was to stabilize the egg so the cookies keep their shape when baking.

 

 

I had fun rolling out the dough and cutting out the shapes like play dough. 

 

 

I made royal icing for the first time and it flopped. Small mistake, too much icing sugar. It didn't taste bad but turned out too stiff making it hard to spread on the cookies thus the rough job. Still tasted good.

the dark side of sweet

It's almost the end of a term so of course, school is driving me crazy with mental chaos and physical fatigue that comes with a fast approaching deadline. I love what i do but there is a thin line between 'this is extremely fun' and 'this is stressful work'. This line has been crossed back and forth several times but right now, I'm on the dark side.

58.oat and raisin cookies
This is the first time i've used dark brown sugar. It gives colour, flavour and richness to these cookies.

 

With cinnamon, oats and raisins, this is my kind of cookie.

 

 

 

 

 

freeze

57.white chocolate and pecan nut cookies

Chocolate and nuts are a good combination and white chocolate is a new favourite of mine. I mixed the pecan nuts and chopped pecan nuts into the dough and wrapped it in cling film.

 

 

 

This went in the freezer for hours and when it came out it was so hard it could probably crack a nut. With a sharp knife, i sliced this frozen dough and baked in a preheated oven. It reminded me of salami.

 

 

Unlike the other cookies, this one kept a defined round shape with neat edges. It was also a bit crunchier on the edges.

 

nuts two sweet

56.peanut butter cookies
When something is baked with two different kinds of sugar, you know it must be sweet.

  

Mixed in some crunchy peanut butter which i love, and stirred in a little chopped chocolate.

 

Turned out really good. Nutty with just the right amount of chocolate. Has to be one of my favourite cookies so far.

good ole love

55.chocolate chip cookies

To make these famous cookies, i had to cream butter and soft light brown sugar which was a nice change from the usual caster sugar and butter creaming i've been doing all my life. Like i said in the last post, i'm in love with this sugar at the moment.

Instead of using store bought chocolate chips, the recipe of course gave me the tiring task of chopping a slab of dark chocolate. It really was worth it in the end because while i chopped, there were little shavings of chocolate that left tracks of chocolate in the cookies. I like how the chocolate chip sizes and shapes weren't so neat and even.

They were very big, flat, chewy, crumbly and because i ate them warm, the chocolate chips were melted. Yum!

kosi

I met the most adorable 4 month old yesterday and he made my whole week. He was quite advanced for his age too. Very active, always wanting to sit up, and always had a beautiful smile on his face. I couldn't put him down and when i had to leave, i was sad. I made these cookies for his mum.

54.double chocolate cookies

I love using soft light brown sugar in recipes because it is much more than sweetness. With caster sugar that's all you get it but soft light brown sugar gives its own flavour and is slightly moist.

Steam melted the chocolate over a pot of boiling water then added it into the mix.

The recipe said to chop the dark chocolate roughly. Even done roughly, it wasn't very easy because of how hard chocolate is and how much of it i had to do. This was stirred in last then divided equally on baking paper. Its incredible how much they spread while baking and it only took about 10-15 minutes.