Special Melting Moments

Today is a activities-filled day! At the repeated request of my boy, he wanted to take the train from our place to Changi Airport... nothing special if you are not staying in the farthest north of Singapore. I didn't really timed the journey, but I think it took at least 1.5 hours including the feeder service from my house to the MRT station. The return trip was another train and super long bus trip back from Changi Airport back home. Really a B.M.W. (bus.mrt.walk) day! Although it was pretty tiring, I really cherish and love these moments. Our conversation whilst in the sky train:-

Me: Are you happy today?

Zakris: I am happy!

Zakris: Mummy, are you happy?

Me: I'm happy because you are happy :-))

Zakris: Why?

Me: B'cos I love you <3<3<3>

I thought I would be too tired to do any baking today, but my energy level went up when I reached home. So here's another recipe which I'm trying from Agnes Chang's I Can Bake.... Special Melting Moments. Another easy and no-fuss (i.e. no mixer required) recipe which yield yummy & very delicate morsels. And these are made especially special because my darling helps with the mixing and piping :-))

Special Melting Moments

Recipe adapted from Agnes Chang's I Can Bake

Ingredients/ Method:

200g butter

80g icing sugar, sifted

1 tsp vanilla essence

1/4 tsp salt

120g self-raising flour, sifted

120g corn flour, sifted

1. Cream butter, icing sugar, vanilla essence and salt using spatula till just combined.

2. Add self-raising flour, corn flour and mix into soft dough.

3. Spoon mixture into a piping bag fitted with a big star nozzle. Pipe onto a greased baking tray to form into the shape of rosette.

4. Bake in a pre-heated oven at 170 deg C for 15 - 20 mins till light golden brown.

5. Cool on rack, sprinkle some icing sugar on top if desired.

6. Store in air tight tin before serving.

Note:

1. I reduced the icing sugar to 60g, sweetness is just nice for me.

2. As usual, I used my favourite pure vanilla bean paste.

3. I baked the cookies at 15 mins.

4. I sprinkled snow powder on some of the cookies but I think they look and taste better without them.

5. The next time I baked, I may want to add a bit of red cherries to make these cookies look brighter and cheery.

(Updated 23.1.2011: My relatives tried these but they don't fancy this cookies. General comment is that it's very salty. To omit salt or use unsalted butter the next time if I'm trying this recipe again.)

Melting Moments dusted with snow powder.

I'm submitting this to Aspiring Bakers #3: My Favourite CNY Cookie, hosted by j3ss kitch3n.