Not sure if you have received this hoax email before, which story centered around a freely distributed RM250 Famous Amos Chocolate Cookie Recipe?

I got that a while ago, ignored. But received again from Piggy last year, saying that her sister baked it successfully and is quite delicious, except that it is the chewy type, which can disappoint some who expect it to be crispy.

I waited a year to bake it!! CNY is nearby, and I thought maybe I should bake it for CNY!

It is not an easy task. I don’t think I will repeat this in a short while. The part about grating the chocolate bar is killing me. And then, have to roll the dough into tiny pieces… With the small oven we usually have at home (i.e. not commercial), it is so slow. Every tray can only carry that many pieces only, have to leave space for the biscuit to expand. I think it yielded about 100 tiny pcs or so, didn’t really count it. Tedious, tired, sweaty…

Anyway, my kids loved it so much. I think before CNY the cookies are going to be gone!

Here is the recipe. I reduced the sugar by half, and still think it is quite sweet. Can’t imagine how people eat with the original recipe!!

‘FAMOUS AMOS’ CHOCOLATE COOKIES RECIPE
Ingredients
1 bar butter (approx 250g)
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla essence
2 cups plain flour
2 1/2 cups oatmeal, blended to powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. baking powder
340g chocolate chips
250g Chocolate bar, grated
100g nuts (your choice), chopped

Method
1. Preheat oven at 190C
2. Cream the butter and both sugars
3. Add eggs and vanilla, mix evenly
4. Fold in flour, oatmeal, salt, baking powder, and soda.
5. Add chocolate chips, grated chocolate bar and nuts. Mix well (I used my hands in a food grade plastic bag, as it is too thick for my mixer).
6. Roll into small balls (around 1 inch in diameter) and place two inches apart on a cookie sheet/tray.
7. Bake for 10 minutes at 190 C.

When the cookies are removed, they are soft. But when left cool, it will harden up and become slightly crisp outside (but chewy inside).

A reader has highly recommended this recipe of steamed raspberry cheesecake, and left a comment here for me to try it out.

I have not had time to do any cooking or baking for a while until I’ve recently settled in my new job and got a new maid. Just made this cake yesterday…

This recipe is very different from all the other ‘common’ ones, in many ways. For a start, it is the EASIEST and SIMPLEST cheesecake recipe that I have tried. It is steamed instead of baked. And it uses 6 eggs rather than 4 that other recipes usually call for, but my friends and I do not quite like the overpowering egg scent and taste, and if I were to make this again, I will reduce to 4 eggs like the usual ones.

The original recipe calls for raspberry jam, but since the shop ran out of stock, I replaced it with blueberry. I believe you can substitute this with any fruit jams that you like.

RECIPE
Ingredients
500g cream cheese
1/2 cup caster sugar (reduced from original recipe)
6 eggs (recommend to reduce to 4 eggs)
1 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla essence
200ml UHT cream
200g fruit jam (raspberry, blueberry, strawberry, etc)
Juice from 1/2 lemon

Method
1. Cream cheese and sugar until smooth
2. Add in eggs, vanilla essence, and cream. Mix till smooth.
3. Pour into lined 8″ round cake tin.
4. Mash the jam until very smooth, pour half of the jam into the cake mixture. Stir with a chopstick to create marble effect. Reserve the other half of jam for decoration.
5. To avoid water sipping in, cling wrap the cake tin 3 times tightly.
6. Steam the mixture for 2 hours under low heat (after water is boiled).
7. Cake is cooked, if the surface is firm to touch and shrink from the sides.
8. After cooled, chill in fridge for at least 1/2 hour before decorating.

Decoration
1. Pour the rest of the jam onto a pan, mix with 1/2 lemon juice. Bring to boil.
2. Spread over the chilled cheesecake, and chill for another 1/2 to 1 hour. It is ready to be served.