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Monday 22 July 2013

Microwave test cookies

Sometimes, extreme hot summer weather coincides with the craving for freshly baked homemade cookies. I didn't want to turn on the oven to bake though. Just the thought of having a 350 F oven in the house was enough to make me sweat. But I couldn't leave that cookie craving unsatiated, so I looked for an alternative. Can cookies be baked in a microwave oven? I tested five different times and power settings...
Microwave used: 1200 watt Panasonic microwave
Flour for a small batch of cookies: whole wheat flour on left, peanut flour on right; sugar, salt, baking powder in middle

Dough with wheat bran stirred in

Cookie before "baking"

After baking 

Cookie bottoms after baking

Sample 1: heated at 70% power for 1 min 30 sec. Looked well baked and dry on top, but had a burnt patch on inside. 

Sample 2: heated at 50% power for 1 min 30 sec. Appeared light and dry on the outside with a small burnt patch inside. 

Sample 3: Heated at 100% power for 50 seconds. Burnt marks on the outside with centre converted into charcoal. Emitted acrid burnt smell; potentially carcinogenic. 

Sample 4: heated at 100% power for 30 seconds. Exterior looked slightly translucent, moist and soft. Inside texture resembled stale dry cake. 

Sample 5: heated at 100% power for 35 seconds. Appeared just like the one above but slightly drier.  
Overall, cooking at 50% power for 1 min 30 seconds appeared to give the best result. The cookie was crunchy through out , but I had to cut off the burnt patch. None of the power and time settings were able to achieve results a conventional oven would because the microwave cooks food from the inside out. Since my cookies were rather thick, I guess rolling them out thinner next time might help get a more even "bake". The microwave seems to be better at cooking food that remains a higher moister content after cooking and so maybe I should be trying a microwave cake recipe instead. Saving that for next time...

I guess this will have to do for now until the weather cools a bit and I can actually face using the oven. Hope you enjoyed this sequence!

Sunday 7 July 2013

Citrus Angel Biscuits

It's July, the middle of summer, and I feel like baking. I've been suppressing the urge to bake for a few weeks because it's been so hot, and I didn't want to have to reve up the air condition just because I've decided to do some baking. Anyway, I couldn't resist any longer, and since this weekend is a little cooler, I baked some angel biscuits. These biscuits are a little sweet and tangy because I slather some zesty citrus glaze on them before baking. The glaze also gives them some wonderful, summer colour: yellow, orange, and green. Can you guess what citrus zests I used?

The Recipe:
Dry ingredients:
  • 2 cups whole wheat flour
  • 1 tbsp sugar
  • 1/2 tsp cardamom
  • 1 1/2 tsp dry instant yeast
Wet ingredients:
  • 1/4 cup butter
  • 1/3 cup plain cream cheese
  • water
Glaze:
  • 1 orange
  • 1 lemon
  • 2 limes
  • 3 tbsp sugar
Stir dry ingredients together. Cut butter and cream cheese into little chunks and rub into the flour mixture until the largest piece of butter of cream cheese is about the size of a split pea or lentil, and evenly distributed. Add water until a soft dough forms. Gather dough into a dough ball, wrap loosely with plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator for a few hours to let the dough soften and rise. 

To make the glaze, wash the orange, lemon, and limes, and grate the zest into a bowl. Add sugar and mix to evenly distribute the zest. To make it spreadable, squeeze either the juice of the lemon, or the two limes over the sugar. 

Roll out dough to 1/4 inch (or ~3/4 cm) thickness, fold the dough in half so that there are two layers. Cut out into squares or circles or whatever shape you want your biscuits to be, brush citrus glaze over biscuits, and slide into a hot oven to bake. Bake at 425 F (~220 C) for 10 to 12 minutes. Let biscuits cool on a rack and enjoy!

Rested and risen dough with a particularly large chunk of butter

Ready to be baked

Cooling and waiting to be devoured