Cravings

Last night (or was it early this morning), i walked away from my laptop with a craving for something sweet. i hung round the kitchen for a while hovering above the biscuits...then i remembered i bought a pack of beh teh sors from laguna asian grocery at QV about 1 week back. yesh its a pack of glory's beh teh sor. it's packaged in a pseudo traditional style (packed in a small plastic bag and then wrapped in a white piece of paper like how it's done before...last time no plastic bag). it's small, dry and the caramel (for the lack of better word) within hardened. sad but still worth savouring at this hour (the pix has a soup spoon for comparison on size).

I don't have a sweet tooth but i do like a certain type of sweetness.
Not the rich chocolate sinful sweetness but closer to baklava and even closer still, the beh teh sor/pong piah kind of sweetness with a savoury aftertaste. Maybe cos the sweetness comes wrapped in some flaky confectionery and the latter is one of those comfort food that i'd grown up with. well, the paternal side of the family used to patronise this Hokkien confectionery Tan Hock Seng along Telok Ayer for its tau sah pia, beh teh sor and pong pia as offerings/snacks. of cos the prices now are hugely inflated and servings had largely shrunk proportionately.

it's certainly gonna be one of my pit stops when i go back to Sg in 2 weeks time!

Okara Short Bread Fingers

i reallllly like butter. & personally i dun think magarine can be considered food.

i think there r 3 ingredients in the world that we can't do without - salt, fish and butter. & the best thing about this recipe is that it's got 2/3 of what i'd just mentioned! my dad too loves short bread and he'd buy those Walkers Shortbread and eat it with cold milk before he got spooked with hi-cholestrol level.

take note that this IS butter shortbread and it is oily-fatty-etc (okara just provides some amt of fibre) & this is by no means a health food...so dun chomp down the whole lot at 1 go. go ahead and share the guilt. i'm sharing mine with The Wife.
this makes approx 12 fingers.

ingredients

• 140g shifted plain flour / pastry flour
• 60g okara (see my previous post on soy bean milk). the original recipe i adapted from called for ground rice. i was too lazy to grind flour at 11 pm. okara turned out to be quite fragrant and gives a husky texture
  
• 50g caster sugar (i used raw sugar)
• 140 butter (cut to pieces & softened so u can pinch easily later). if you have only unsalted butter, add salt to taste (1/2-1 tsp will be fine)

recipe

• mix everything in a mixing bowl. use ur hand, easily done.
• mix till everything is blended and u can form a ball
• roll out the dough on a lightly floured surface
• cut & shape fingers and place them on grease paper on baking tray. allow space in between, they expand abt 10-15% after baking
  
• prick fingers with fork (lightly)
  
• put fingers in fridge for 30 min
• preheat oven at 180'C and bake for 20-25 min
• after baking, cool then serve.

now i better find time to hit the gym......