Tuesday, October 25, 2011

Who wants to take a bite of these fingers?

If not because of my 2 beloved daughters, I think I would have never tried my hands at baking.

My elder daughter especially loves baking, so I decided to give it a try. Ever since I learned to bake a chocolate cake successfully (I never baked before), I thought of trying out cookies recipes too (but I had no confidence at all).

Last night marked a "historical moment" for me... the first time baking cookies...

Ready to paint the nails in blood red colour...
For a novice like me, it's more like a science experiment. Before that, I didn't even know what was "confectionary sugar" or "vanilla extract" . I called & consulted my sis-in-law who gave me the recipe before started on this first ever cookie baking experiment.
I was using Martha Stewart's recipe. I kept some egg white as "glue".

The bad news was... my dough refused to firm up even after I chilled it for more than 30 minutes!

"Mam... saya sudah cakap tak payah ikut resipi punya, kita di kampung guna tangan ukur. Itu tepung pun tak cukup mana boleh..." ( "Madam... I already told you it's impossible, back in my village we used hands to control portion size. You don't have enough flour, how can?")

My maid was commenting after seeing my failed attempt...but I insisted to follow the measurement given.

Even so, I later found out it was really impossible to shape the dough. My daughter and I therefore decided to add some flour... and later more and more flour... We were no longer following the measurement given... but our own judgement...

Using egg white to glue the red almond into the finger cookies.

Fingers in different sizes and shapes .... and different portion of flour too.

Ready to bake.

I was so eager to see the result of this experiment. After 12 minutes as instructed, we found it still not hard enough (need to be a bit brownish) and hence baked for a few more minutes (Guess the fingers I made were too big). My daughter refrained me from opening the oven door to check as she said "A watched kettle never boils"

And the result was...

Some fat fingers that don't look real

My daughter's had 6 fingers!!! But very soon one went down her stomach.

Some smaller fingers looked better & ready for a photography session with the spiders.

Now you can smell halloween in the air!

Picture taken by my son.

We scare because we care!


8 comments:

Daddy said...

Wowow...awesome cookies..I want some of those for our children's halloween party this friday...that will be way so COOL! I'm sure I will be talking point for the entire neighborhood...hahahaha...

Sunny-Cookie said...

Finger cookies, nice!! Looks good for a 1st attempt :)

Reanaclaire said...

hahaha...so creative!! I dare to take.. still got remainder or not??

YuinTing said...

Hi Daddy, you can log on to "http://www.marthastewart.com/275516/halloween-cookie-recipes/@center/276965/halloween#256178" for the recipe.

My sis-in-law baked fantastic finger cookies using this recipe for our neighborhood halloween celebration a few years ago. It was truly cool and some kids were too scared to try.

Good luck to you and I'm sure this will be a very unique "finger food".

YuinTing said...

Hi Sunny-Cookie, thanks for your encouragement. I think one of the reasons my cookie didn't firm up was because I used too much butter. I Hope one day I could also bake those beautiful cupcakes that resemble little flower pots like what you've done! You're so good in baking :-)

Hi Claire, you're such a brave girl, ha ha!
I keep some for my halloween party this saturday. If no one dares to take, I courier all to you :-D

Unknown said...

You know looking at those pictures, there is one picture that I like the most,,,,,,you can't guess it right, I am sure,,,,,,,,,,,,the answer this... I like the picture of the oven,,,,,,,,,,,,,,and i am sure you have got a very modern kitchen,,,,,,,,,,I like nice nice kitchen,and I always fall in love with those cooking shows,, the best kitchen is the one from Exotic Chef,,,, cool

Joyful.Mum said...

Its a scaring attempt for 1st time baking and also a scaring attempt for baking fingers!! It definitely would be a scary attempt to bite and chew fingers!

YuinTing said...

Hi Eugene, i remember seeing some photos in your blog that you took with your family members (including nieces etc). I also could see you have a very nice kitchen too! I think the cabinet is also walnut color, right? You have a kitchen island? I don't. I don't have a big kitchen. Actually my wet kitchen is extremely common. Oh ya, guess you are a good cook :-)

Hi Joyful.Mum, you're right, it is SCARY...but fun, ha ha!