The Cooking Ninja

I love butter. When I was a kid, I used to spread a big chunk of butter on my white bread and savour every bite of it. The best spread is white bread with a thick coat of butter and sugar. Heck, I was even guilty of just eating a plain square of butter on it's own. Yummy... hahaha... well that was back then... now when I see a kid doing the same as I did back then, I cringe in horror - images of choked artery come to mind. Could it be that I have been over-exposed to health commercials aired on TV?

Anyway it still doesn't stop me from indulging myself once in a while - old habits die hard. Sometimes I would sneak a big slap of butter on my bread with a little jam during breakfast - whenever Pierre isn't watching or else he would give me a long lecture on cholesterol and all. I remember once he caught me eating a slice of bread with butter coated with peanut butter on top with a horrified look on his face that goes 'Are you really going to finish that!'

And of course without a doubt, my all time favourite cookies are butter cookies. My first taste of butter cookies were those Danish Butter Cookies (those famous blue round tin). It was a great treat when I was little as these cookies were imported and very expensive back then. It's funny how a great luxury back then has become a common treat today.

I have made these almond butter-cookies about a month ago after seeing a beautiful photo of it in a local monthly magazine but never got around to write about it.

Petits Sablés aux Amandes

Preparation: 20 minutes
Baking: 30 mins + 1 hour (refrigerator)
Makes: 30 (approximately)

Ingredients

• 250 g flour
• 2 eggs
• 50 ml liquid cream
• 120 g salted butter (soften)
• 120 g sugar
• 30 almonds
• 11 g baking powder

Directions

1. Mix flour and baking powder in a bowl.
2. Whisk eggs and sugar in a big bowl, add in the butter while whisking non-stop until it is creamy.
3. Add in the flour mixture and knead it with your fingers.
4. Form the dough into a ball and place it in a cool place for 2 hours or refrigerate it for 1 hour.
5. Preheat oven at 180°C (350°F- gas mark 4)
6. Flour your work table and roll out the dough to 1 cm thickness.
7. Cut them out into about 30 rectangles
8. Place half of the quantity onto the baking tray lined with baking paper.
9. Place an almond on top of each rectangles and brush the surface with liquid cream.
10. Bake them for 15 minutes.
11. Let the biscuits cool on the wire rack.
12. Cool off the baking tray under running water and then put the rest of the batch of rectangles in the oven.
13. These shortbread can be kept for 5 or 6 days in an airtight container.

The Verdict

Not as buttery as I was hoping, maybe because I was a bit too generous with the flour. Pierre thinks they are just nice, but would go for just an half-almond on top as a whole one for every cookie is a bit too much. Otherwise it goes nicely with our 5 o'clock cup of tea and stays fresh in a sealed container.

Notes

I must have over-whipped the egg and sugar (it was fluffy and creamy) before adding the butter because with the said amount of flour, I couldn't get it to form a dough. It was a sticky mess so I had to add more flour to get it to form a dough.

I have made these cookies many times but I never really given much thought on the chocolate nut spread I used on it till Pierre asked me that day 'Do you know how Nutella came about?' 'No. I don't think there's anything interesting about it. It's just some modern invention.' Pierre: 'You should look it up. You'll be surprised.' Now that got me curious. So, here's some history lesson for you and me.

Nutella®, in its original form, was first created during WWII by Mr. Pietro Ferrero, a pastry maker and founder of the Ferrero company. At that time, there was a shortage of cocoa due to rationing, so Mr. Ferrero used hazelnuts, which are plentiful in the Piedmont region of Italy (northwest), to extend the chocolate supply. The original version of Nutella spread was called pasta gianduja - pasta means obviously paste, and gianduja is the name of a carnival character famous to the region, a character that can be found in the first advertisements for the product. This original form of Nutella was actually made in loaves and wrapped in tinfoil, so it could be sliced and placed on bread for mothers to make sandwiches for their children. But many children would throw away the bread and only eat the pasta gianduja! So Mr. Ferrero altered the product into a paste that came in a jar, that could be spread on the bread as well. This then became known as supercrema gianduja because it was a spread-able version of the gianduja. Supecrema gianduja was eventually renamed "Nutella" in 1964, with the origin of the word being "nut" and the "ella" giving it a soft ending. So now you know.

Choc-Hazelnut Scrolls

(taken from Biscuits & Slices)

Preparation: 25 minutes
Baking: 15 minutes
Makes: 35

Ingredients

• 250 g or 2 cups plain flour
• 63 g or ½ cup ground hazelnuts
• 100 g unsalted butter (chopped)
• 125 g or ½ cup caster sugar
• 1 egg (lightly beaten)
• 2 tbsp iced water
• ¼ cup chocolate hazelnut spread

Directions

Using food processor

1. Place dry ingredients in food processor bowl; add butter and sugar. Using the pulse action, press button for 30 seconds or until mixture is fine and crumbly.
2. Add combined egg and water; process a further 20 seconds until mixture forms a dough.
3. Turn out onto a lightly floured surface and knead 30 seconds or until smooth.
4. Roll pastry out on a large sheet of baking paper, to a rectangle of 25x35cm. Trim any uneven edges.
5. Spread dough evenly with hazelnut spread.
6. Using paper to lift dough, roll up from the long side in Swiss roll style. Wrap tightly in paper and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
7. Cut dough into 1 cm slices, wiping blade of knife between cuts. Place on biscuit trays with baking paper.
8. Bake at 180°C (350°F - gas mark 4) for 15 minutes. Transfer to wire rack to cool.

Using hand

1. In a large bowl, mix the flour, ground hazelnuts and sugar together. Then add in the diced up butter.
2. Using your fingers, rub the butter into the flour until it is crumbly (like sand). To make sure that all butter are rubbed in and there is no big lumps left, scoop some mixture into your hands and rub it in a rubbing motion.
3. Make a small well in the middle, pour in the egg and iced water. Mix the dough mixture with your hands until it forms a ball of dough.
4. Then follow steps 3) to 8) same as above.

Conclusion

As Nutella is very tasty (this reminds me of the scene in Joe Black where Brad Pitt was licking deliciously his spoon), it is a nice base for these cookies, making them rich in taste and flavour. Great tea treats.

For that extra punch: crunchy and nutty flavour in every bite - I added some chopped hazelnuts into the recipe and an extra 20 g (approx) butter. It turns out very good and exactly what I wanted. We both love this modified recipe.

Regarding the spread, don't go over zealous with it or else you would have nutella spilling all over (although it was finger-licking good) and will have a hard time slicing the dough. Don't make the same mistake as me. I gave an extra dose in mine because Pierre complained that I always spread too thin a layer. When I had to slice it, aïe yaï yaï, what a mess! In the end, I had to use dental floss string to cut the dough. That saved the day.

Note

You can use ground macadamia nuts in place of the hazelnuts.

The cookies can be stored in an airtight container for up to 3 days.