Eid Biscuit 2012- Jumbled Oat Cornflakes Cookies




Jumbled Oat Cornflakes Cookies- cooled on the rack

 



Nothing beats home-made cookies

 





Eid is just around the corner- and I only started baking today ;(

   

    Phew, time does fly. Now, we are nearing the end of Ramadhan. It's already August. And I have only started baking Eid biscuits today.  Yes, today. It's one week before Eid and my preparations are actually zero. Too much on postponing things and I nearly didn't want to bake at all. Again, I lost the mood to bake. Probably because of the weather or I was just tired or plain lazy.. (oops). However, since I never fail in baking Eid biscuits each year, I am forcing myself today to bake and share this recipe in my blog. Just to get into the mood of celebrations.

 Back to this recipe, I have bookmarked it for two years. I could not even have the guts to bake these cookies, simply because I have postponing it again and again. Every year, I try to bake different types of Eid biscuits, just to be different as I get bored easily. This recipe comes from the "Cookies Year Round" book by Rosemary Black. As usual I have tweaked and adapted the recipe, as I found the original one tend to be sweet. So, here I am sharing this recipe. I hope that everyone will give it a try. Here goes;

What you need:

#Butter for the baking sheets

  Parchment paper for the baking sheets

Ingredients

1 3/4  to 2 cups of all- purpose/ plain flour
(sifted 2 times- you will have a better texture for the biscuit)
1 tbs of vegetable shortening (Crisco)

1 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1 cup ( 2 sticks) unsalted butter ( I used SCS) - room temperature

1/2 cup caster/ granulated sugar

1 cup packed brown sugar ( I used soft brown sugar)

2 eggs

1 1/2 tsp vanilla essence

1 cup rolled oats ( not quick-cooking oatmeal, not the instant oatmeal)

2 1/2 cups corn flakes, coarsely crushed (I used Kellog's)

1 cup sweetened coconut flakes (Hawaiian coconut)

1 tsp of freshly squeezed lemon juice

1 tsp grated lemon
Glazed cherries-for decorations (cut into small pieces)

1)Preheat the oven to 120C for 7-8 mins ( I used electric conventional oven. If the temperature is too high, the cookies will get brown easily, the key idea is to be patient, while waiting for the cookies to be baked thoroughly). Lightly butter two baking sheets. Place parchment paper (baking paper) on the baking sheets.

2) Sift together the flour, baking soda, salt and baking powder.

3) Using an electric hand mixer, set on a medium speed, beat the butter and sugars evenly.

4) Add in the eggs, one by one. Add in vanilla essence.

5) Sift in the flour mixture and beat until combined.

6) Stir in the oats, coconut and corn flakes. Add in vegetable shortening. Then, add in lemon juice and freshly grated lemon.

7) Using a teaspoon, drop the dough onto the prepared baking sheets. Decorate with glazed cherries.

10) Bake 15-20 mins,  or until golden brown. (By this time, you could reduce the temperature to 100C.  I baked my cookies for about 30 minutes with the temperature of 100C- I only baked one baking sheet  at one time ).

11) Transfer the cookies to the cooling rack.

12) Store your cookies in an air-tight container.

Notes:

1) This recipe yields 5 dozen of cookies.You could always double the recipe, and easily  get  two containers of cookies.

2) You can fry the flour beforehead, in Malay we call this process  as "sangai", this means you  fry the flour in a wok (do not add anything), heated slowly (for about 7-8 minutes). Or you could  just dry the flour using the oven, with a temperature between 70-80C ( 7-8 minutes).

Traditionally old Malay  ladies would dry the flour (in a big "dulang" or aluminium tray )outside, in the direct sunlight-  this is to release the moisture from the flour. I have  discovered this method from old Malay  cook books and found it very useful. In fact, cookies would last longer  and smells better.

3) Always put a little bit of sugar before placing a cut-out parchment paper (doily)and arrange  your cookies accordingly. Place paper in each layer of cookies that you have arranged. The paper will  dry out the fats (oil) from the cookies. Eventually your cookies will stay fresh and crunchy at all times.
4) You can add in the flour up to 2 cups of just stick to 1 3/4 cups...
5) This is the updated version of the recipe posted on 9 September 2012.

 




Rolled Oats, Hawaiian Coconut, grated lemon and Corn flakes- all these will make a baker happy...

  




Now, these are what we call "heaven

  

On another note, who ever thought that oats and cornflakes could make  scrumptious and crunchy cookies.... Happy days ahead every one ;)