Wholesome Bites

A couple of weekends ago I was at Ikea...one of my favourite shopping places, I spotted a set of lovely animal-shaped cookie cutters. It was love-at-first-sight. Thank goodness the price is very reasonable and I didn't feel guilty having to add them to my collection of cookie cutters.

If you happen to read my previous post on Chocolate Chips drop Cookies, you would have known the reason why the list under 'My Cookie Jar' category at the side bar will be getting longer and longer ;) Yet, I find it a challenging task to look for cookie recipes that would promise snacks that are wholesome, nutritious and at the same time taste as delicious as they look. Fortunately, I have cultivated a good habit of keeping recipes...anything that looks good, low fat and requires less sugar will get to find a place either in my recipe folders or my notebooks. I know, I will get to try out the recipes some day.


I managed to dig out this Wholemeal Cookies recipe from my stack of recipes and after a quick run through of the instructions, I though it would be very suitable to use my newly acquired set of cutters for these Rolled cookies.

For rolled cookies, the cookie dough MUST have the right consistency. If the dough is too dry, it will crack and crumble easily...if it is too wet, the dough will be too sticky, making it really difficult to roll and cut out the cookies, and it will spread too much during baking. It was only after adding in the flour mixture that I realised this recipe produced very very wet and sticky dough. I was quite certain that I had measured the ingredients correctly and followed the steps very closely. I followed the instructions to gather the mixture to form a dough, placed it in a plastic bag and left it to chill in the fridge. While the dough was getting firmed up, I took the time to look for ways to overcome the problems that I was very sure I gonna faced.

I was lucky to be able to find all the solutions from one of my cookie bibles. To prevent the dough from sticking to the rolling pin, it is best to roll out the dough between two sheets of parchment paper or clear plastic sheets (cut outs from plastic bags). This is something I have been practising for quite sometime already especially when making pastries for tarts. The next tip is something new though. After rolling, slide the dough (do not remove the parchment papers or plastic sheets) onto a baking tray and leave it to chill in the fridge again for another 15 ~ 30 mins or so. When the dough is firm enough, it will be much easier to stamp out the cookies.

I have also learned that there is one extra step after stamping out the cookies, ie to chill the cut out doughs again for at least 30 mins before baking. This helps to retain their shape and prevent the cookies from spreading too much especially if it is a wet dough.


Well, I followed the above tips and it took me a lot more time than I had expected. I find it quite troublesome having to chill the dough in between rolling and cutting out. Even after chilling, the dough started to soften and got sticky again before I could finish stamping out one tray. It was a nightmare trying to transfer the soft and fragile cut-out dough to the baking tray. The bigger cutters gave me more headache than the the smaller one. Nevertheless, it was a good learning experience, and having gone through the hassles of making them, the finished cookies didn't disappoint me. They were so GOOD, very crispy and crunchy! I really like the nutty texture thanks to the wholemeal flour. These cookies are certainly worth the extra efforts! My younger boy loves this healthy snack to bits (literally!), he would pick up every single cookie crumbs from the table and put it into his mouth. The cookies were so well received that they were all gone within 3 days. I will certainly be making these wholesome bites again and again...but the next time, I would probably just roll them into small discs instead of sweating it out with the cookie cutters ;)


Wholemeal Cookies

Ingredients:

100g butter, softened at room temperature
80g caster sugar
1 egg (about 60g with shell), lightly beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
100g plain flour
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
150g wholemeal flour


Method:

1. Preheat oven to 180degC. Line baking trays with parchment paper.
2. With a wooden spoon or electric mixer, cream butter and caster sugar in a mixing bowl until the mixture turns pale and fluffy.
3. Beat in the egg gradually. Mix well after each addition. Add in vanilla extract, mix well.
4. Sift the flour and baking powder over the mixture, add the wholemeal flour. Fold in with a spatula. Mix and gather to form a soft dough. Lightly knead the dough for a few seconds until smooth. (Do not overwork the dough or the butter will start to melt and the gluten will develop giving the cookies a tough texture.)
5. Shape the dough into a ball then flatten slightly into a round disc. (This will make it easier to roll out.) Wrap in cling wrap or a place it in a plastic bag (to prevent the dough from drying out) and leave in the fridge for about 30 mins or until firm. (If the dough is left in the fridge for too long, it will harden, if this happens, leave it in room temperature for a few mins until it is soft enough to roll out.)
6. Between two sheets of plastic sheets or parchment paper, roll out the dough to a thickness of about 5mm. After rolling, leave the plastic sheets/parchment paper in place and slide the roll out dough into a baking tray and leave in the fridge for about 10-15mins or until firm. (As this dough is rather sticky even after rolling out, by chilling the dough it will be easier to stamp out the cookies.)
7. Dip cookie cutters into some flour and stamp out cookies. Transfer cut-out cookies to the prepared baking trays, leave a space of about 1" in between each one. Gather up the scrape and re-roll to make more cookies (repeat step 6 if necessary). Chill the cut-out cookies for at least 30 mins before baking. (This helps to retain their shape.)
8. Bake for about 15-20 mins until the cookies turn pale golden brown. Rotate the baking tray halfway through the cooking time to ensure even browning.
9. Remove the cookies from the oven and leave on the baking tray for 2 ~ 3mins (to allow the cookies to firm up a little) before transferring them to a wire rack to cool completely.

Recipe source: 好想为你亲手做出美味的甜点! 检见崎聡美著