Yin Yang Butter Cookies

Basic Butter Cookies	Chocolate Cookies
90 g Unsalted butter, at room temperature 35 g Caster sugar 1/2 tsp Orange extract angiesrecipes 1 tbsp Egg yolk 85 g German #405 flour	90 g German #405 flour 10 g Dutch processed cocoa powder angiesrecipes Pinch of salt 60 g Unsalted butter, at room temperature 50 g Caster sugar 1 Egg yolk 1/2 tsp Rum extract angiesrecipes

1. Cut the butter into smaller pieces and place them in a mixing bowl. Add caster sugar gradually at the side of the bowl while mixing, beating thoroughly after each addition. Switch to medium speed to beat sugar and butter until the mixture fluffy and pale. Scrape the bowl down to make sure everything is thoroughly combined. Beat in egg yolk and orange extract until smooth. Add in the flour and fold to combine. Wrap up the cookie dough and chill for 1 hour.
   
   
   
   
2. Whish together the flour, cocoa powder and salt in a bowl. Set aside. Cut the butter into smaller pieces and place them in another mixing bowl. Add caster sugar gradually at the side of the bowl while mixing, beating thoroughly after each addition. Switch to medium speed to beat sugar and butter until the mixture fluffy and pale. Scrape the bowl down to make sure everything is thoroughly combined. Beat in egg yolk and rum extract until smooth. Add in the cocoa flour mixture and fold to combine. Wrap up the chocolate cookie dough and chill for 1 hour.
   
   
3. Divide each dough into 4 logs, about 1 inch in diameter, and reserve about 10 grams of each dough to make the dots. Press one side of each log with your thumb to make a comma shape. Cover and chill 1 hour until firm.
   
   
4. Dust a work surface lightly with flour. Place one orange dough log with round side down on the work surface. Brush the side lightly with water and turn the chocolate dough log on top of the orange dough, creating the yin-yang pattern. Gently roll the log until round. Repeat with the remaining logs. Wrap and chill 1-2 hours until firm.
   
   
5. Preheat the oven to 175C/350F. Cut the cookie logs into 5mm thick slices. Arrange the cookies on a parchment paper lined baking pan, about an inch apart. Pinch a bit of reserved chocolate dough, and roll it into a small round ball. Gently press it into the orange part of the cookies. Do the same with the reserved orange dough and press them into the chocolate part of the cookies. Bake in the center of preheated oven for about 12 minutes. Cool the cookies on the rack.

Rijstevlaai / Hollandish Rice Pudding Cake

This is a "Rijstevlaai" (rice pudding pie ? or cake? or just bread? whatever...) a classic filling with rice cooked in milk, enriched with eggs and sugar.

Dough	Rice Pudding
150 ml Milk at 20C/68F 12 g Fresh yeast 25 g Sugar 240 g German#550 flour Pinch of salt 1 Egg 25 g Butter angiesrecipes	600 ml Whole milk 120 g Round grain rice Pinch of salt 1 Vanilla bean angiesrecipes 2 Eggs 80 g Sugar 10 g Vanilla pudding powder 30 g Almond sliced (optional)

1. In a bowl whisk together the milk, yeast and sugar. Combine flour and salt together in another mixing bowl. Pour the yeast mixture into the flour. Beat in egg and butter until the dough is fairly smooth. Cover with a cling film and let rise until doubled. Butter 10-inch-diameter springform pan. Press down the dough to release the air. Pat dough over bottom and sides of prepared pan. Cover and allow to rise until doubled.
   
   
2. Bring milk to a boil in a large saucepan. Stir in rice, salt and vanilla bean, which can be used either whole or split to reveal the seeds and scraped into the rice. Bring them to a boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer uncovered until most of milk is absorbed and mixture is thick but still creamy, stirring frequently, about 30 minutes. Whip together 2 eggs, 80 grams sugar and pudding powder. Add the mixture into the rice and stir 2 minutes. Remove mixture from heat and cool to lukewarm.
   
3. Preheat oven to 200C/400F. Pour the rice pudding into the risen dough and sprinkle the almond slices on the top of the pudding if using. Bake in the middle of preheated oven for 1 hour. Cool the cake completely in tin placed on a wire rack.

Almond Tartlets

#Flan Pastry:	#Almond Filling:
125 g German #405 flour 50 g Caster sugar 1 package / 8 g Vanilla sugar angiesrecipes 1 Egg yolk 70 g Butter	2 tbsp Pineapple jam 2 Egg whites Pinch of salt 1/4 tsp Lemon juice 150 g Powdered sugar 1 tsp Almond extract angiesrecipes 200 g Skinless almonds, ground 2 tbsp Almonds or hazelnuts, chopped

1. 
   Sift the flour into a bowl. Add sugar, vanilla sugar, egg yolk and the butter. With your hand, gather all the ingredients into a ball. Transfer the dough on a lightly floured work surface and knead it feels pliable and smooth. Wrap in cling film and chill for 1 hour.
   
2. 
   Grease well nine 2-inch tartlet tins. Remove the chilled dough from the refrigerator and roll out to a circle about 3mm thick. Line the prepared tartlet tins with flan pastry. Brush each with pineapple jam. Preheat the oven to 175C/350F.
   
3. 
   
   Beat egg whites with salt and lemon juice until soft peaks. Add in almond extract, powdered sugar in a few additions and beat until stiff. Fold in the ground almonds until combined. Fill each pastry shell with almond batter. Divide the almond batter into the 9 prepared pastry shells. Sprinkle the chopped hazelnuts or almonds on the top and bake for about 30 minutes. Allow to cool for 10 minutes or so in the tins, then turn out on a rack. You can make them without using pastry shells and fill 9 muffin liners instead.

Chocolate Streusel Banana Muffins

150 g Whole wheat flour angiesrecipes 100 g All-purpose flour 2 tsp Baking powder 1/2 tsp Baking soda 120 g Brown sugar angiesrecipes Pinch of salt 2 Eggs

375 g Ripe banana, mashed 1 cup Milk 1 tbsp Lemon juice 80 g Salad oil 100 g Chocolate streusel 50 g Pine nuts

1. 
   Preheat oven to 180C/350F. Lightly grease 16 muffin cups, or line with muffin papers.
   
2. 
   In a large bowl, mix together two kinds of flour, baking soda and baking powder. In another bowl, whisk together sugar, egg, oil and salt. Add mashed banana, milk and lemon juice to the brown sugar mixture and stir to combine.
   
3. Sift the flour mixture into the wet one and stir only until the ingredients are just moistened and combined. Gently stir in chopped nuts. Do not over mix the batter or tough muffins will result. Spoon batter into prepared muffin cups and bake for about 30 minutes.