A boxful of love 一盒子的愛

To my dear friend, Helen.



I baked English raisin scones, spiced oatmeal cookies, milk tea biscotti, curry biscuits, chocolate lace cookies and vanilla sables.

Since this is supposed to be a birthday/house warming gift, I want to store the treats with something pretty. So a mooncake tin box has transformed into this beautifully linen gift box XD

Dear 墟，遲了一個多月的生日快樂 :D



Personally I like the Vanilla Sables the most! They are made with vanilla powder and homemade vanilla sugar, I favored it over matcha sables. The scones are also kicking ass, must try! The curry biscuits have an interesting favour, it's savoury and have a subtle sweetness in it, I kind of like it. Marsian thinks it's weird though, I guess he is not as adventurous as I am XD

The cookies really travel well too. I hand carried the box of cookies traveling from Seattle to OC, none of them are broke into pieces (except the lace cookies, which are so fragile that it even breaks when removing from the baking sheet). Now I can consider mailing cookies to friends ;)

English raisin scones

English raisin scones

14 mini scones

:dough:
All-purpose flour // 2 1/2 cup
Confectioners sugar // 1/4 cup
Baking powder // 1 tbsp
Baking soda // 1/2 tsp
Salt // 1/2 tsp
Raisins // 3/4 cup
Buttermilk (or 2 tbsp yogurt + milk) // 3/4 cup
Unsalted butter, chilled, cut into cubes // 1/2 cup
Egg, large // 1

:Egg wash: (Optional)
Egg yolk // 1
Milk // 2 tbsp


1. Preheat 220C/400F.

2. Combine flour + baking powder + baking soda + sugar + salt and sieve the mixture two times. Add in butter cubes, blend until flakes like, add in raisins.

4. Combine buttermilk + egg, add in the butter mixture. Stir gently until well blended.

5. Roll the dough into 1 inch thick rectangle sheet. Use round cookie cutter to cut out each scone dough and line it on the baking sheet.

6. Brush egg wash (optional), bake 15~20 minutes until golden brown.

:notes:
1. Serve best when warm with clotted cream and jam. I just don't understand why is it so difficult to find clotted cream here. In Vancouver, you can easily buy them from grocery store like Safeway. Maybe I will have to make clotted cream myself....T_T

2. Scones can be stored in air tight container for 3 days or freeze in the freezer for up to a month.

英式鬆餅

14 小鬆餅

:麵糰:
麵粉 // 2 1/2 cup
細砂糖 // 1/4 cup
泡打粉 // 1 tbsp
蘇打粉 // 1/2 tsp
鹽// 1/2 tsp
葡萄乾 // 3/4 cup
Buttermilk (or 2 tbsp yogurt + milk) // 3/4 cup
無鹽奶油 （冷凍，切小塊） // 1/2 cup
雞蛋 // 1

蛋液：（Optional）
雞蛋 // 1
鮮奶 // 2tbsp

1. 預熱焗爐，220C/400F。

2. 麵粉、砂糖、泡打粉、蘇打粉以及鹽過篩（至少兩次。泡打粉和麵粉拌不勻的話會有苦味）

3. 用一把叉把切成小塊的冷凍奶油壓入麵粉材料中，至麵粉呈小粒狀碎削。

4. 加入葡萄乾（也可隨個人喜好加入其他乾果和堅果），拌勻。

5. 將yogurt、鮮奶和雞蛋拌打均勻，然後輕輕拌入麵粉中，麵團均勻濕潤即可。

6. 在台面灑些麵粉，取出麵團整型。用杆面棍將麵團杆成長形，厚度約一寸，用圓形的cookie cutter（直徑2寸至2 1/2寸為佳），整齊的切出小圓筒形即可。將切出的麵團排在烤盤上。

7. 如果喜歡的話，可刷上蛋液，進烤箱烤15－20分鐘至表面呈金黃色既可。放到鐵架上待涼，收納于乾淨的容器內，可保存3天。冰箱可冷藏1個月。

Vanilla sablés

recipe :: http://yujai.blogspot.com/2009/01/matcha-cookies-meteor-shower.html

I used vanilla powder and used vanilla sugar instead.Making vanilla sugar is easy.

1. Place a cleaned vanilla bean on paper towel and set aside until dried.

2. Bury 1 dried vanilla bean in a container holding 2 cups sugar of your choice (I used super-fine this time)

3. Cover the container tightly. The sugar will be sufficiently scented with vanilla to be used in a week or so. Add more sugar to the jar when you use some of it's contents; the beans will be effective for many months.

Chocolate lace cookie

Chocolate lace cookies

12 cookies

Brown sugar // 30g
Butter // 30g
Milk // 1 tbsp
Cake flour // 5g
Cocoa powder // 4g
Almond bits // 25g

1. Bring together sugar + butter in a saucepan over low heat. Remove from heat when butter melt. Pour in milk and stir until sugar dissolve. Set aside until cool.

2. Sieve flour + cocoa powder and into the butter mixture and finally add in almond bits.

3. Bake 160C/320F 15 minutes.

朱古力蕾絲

12 cookies
recipe from 孟老師的100道手工餅乾

黃糖 // 30g
牛油// 30g
鮮奶// 1 tbsp
麵粉 // 5g
朱古力粉 // 4g
杏仁粒 // 25g

1. 黃糖 + 牛油以小火加熱至牛油溶化，熄火後趁熱加入鮮奶，攪拌至黃糖溶化。放涼備用。

2. 降溫後，一起篩入麵粉 + 朱古力粉，最後加入杏仁粒。

3. 160C/320F 焗15分鐘。

Milk tea biscotti

Milk tea biscotti

25 pieces
recipe revised from 孟老師的100道手工餅乾

Black tea // 2 tea bags
Cream/milk // 35g
Unsalted butter // 50g
Powdered sugar // 70g
Flour // 150g
Almond slices // 50g

1. Remove the tea bits from tea bags, soak in warm milk for 5 minutes.

2. Combine butter and powdered sugar. Add in the milk tea, mix to combine. Add in almond slices and shape into a dough.

3. Roll dough into a log about 3 inches thick. Bake 165C/329F for 20 minutes or until firm to the touch. Remove from oven and let cool on a wire rack for about 10 minutes.

4. Transfer logs to a cutting board and, using a serrated knife, cut log into slices 0.7 inch thick on the diagonal. Arrange evenly on baking sheet. Bake 10 minutes, turn slices over, and returned to the power off oven for another 10 minutes or until firm to the touch.

5. Remove from oven and let cool. Store in an airtight container.

Curry biscuits

Curry biscuits

24 pieces
recipe revised from 孟老師的100道手工餅乾

:dough:
Flour // 150g
Powdered sugar // 35g
Baking soda // 1/4 tsp
Curry powder // 10g
Unsalted butter // 50g
Milk // 1 tbsp
Egg white // 30g
Black sesame // 1 tbsp

:Egg wash:
Egg white // 15g
White sesame // 1 tbsp

1. Combine and sieve flour + powdered sugar + baking soda + curry powder. Add in butter to mix until flaky.

2. Stir in milk, egg white and black sesame, mix well and shape into a dough.

3. Place the dough over a long piece of plastic wrap. Roll the dough into a rectangle sheet about 0.5 inch thick, cover it with the plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours.

4. Brush egg wash and sprinkle the top with white sesame, cut into 24 rectangular pieces.

5. Bake 165C/329F for 25 minutes.