Cookie Butter Favorites

Cookie Butter Favorites

Another compilation of my favorite recipes, this time those involving cookie butter. You can use Biscoff which was the original cookie butter or the Trader Joe’s version called Speculoos. I used to treat them interchangeably; Biscoff is available at Target and, once in a blue moon, at Costco while Speculoos is only at Trader Joe’s (as far as I know). However, there are subtle differences between them. Biscoff is creamier and more akin to peanut butter in terms of spreadability. Speculoos is also easy to spread but you have to give it a stir or two first. I actually prefer the taste of Speculoos over Biscoff but I still like them both. And yes, in a blind taste test, my picky taste buds can taste the difference.

Given my past prejudices against combining chocolate with cookie butter (two dominant flavors fighting rather than complementing each other in my opinion), it won’t come as a surprise that none of my favorite cookie butter recipes include regular semisweet or milk chocolate. Instead, white chocolate prevails as it’s far more complementary to cookie butter than “real” chocolate.

Biscoff Cloud Cookies

Biscoff-Stuffed White Chocolate Lava Cookies

Biscoff-Stuffed Snickerdoodles

Classic Sugar Cookies Sandwiched with Cookie Butter

Speculoos Cookie Sandwiches

Biscoff Sheet Cake

Singapore Eats Part 3

August 21, 2015

My last day in Singapore wasn’t the same gustatory journey I’d enjoyed earlier in the week, mostly because I had a plane to catch but meetings to take first and a tour of a local facility I had wanted to see for work. But still, I managed to snag lunch at the airport before my flight. And even there, Singapore didn’t disappoint. They had a “24-hour food court” and it had the obligatory KFC and Subway but – woo hoo – they also had local food kiosks. Guess which one I chose?

Yep, had my last Chicken Rice meal before I left. You can’t imagine how happy I was to find it equally good as at the local restaurant with equally delicious rice. The finance geek in me was also happy that I paid only $5 SGD for the meal. I’ve never eaten that cheaply at an airport with food that didn’t taste like it was bought at an airport. Seriously, people who went to KFC or Subway, you’re missing out. I’ve spent almost 6 years blogging about food and this post goes down in my blog history as a write up of something I ate at an airport. Which was better than some of the meals I’ve had in “real” restaurants.

Chicken Rice - Changi airport version

My time on the ground in Singapore was mostly about work and the rest about jetlag so I didn’t have time to shop for gifts to bring home until I was at the airport. I mostly worked out of the airport lounge but fifteen minutes before boarding my flight, I wandered a couple of candy shops (of course) since I typically just bring consumables home. I had asked my coworkers earlier what’s a typical gift to bring back from Singapore and they said pineapple tarts. I was assured I could find them at the airport so I didn’t look for them elsewhere. Alas, I must not have looked in the right places because I couldn’t find any pineapple tarts at Changi. Instead I went with chocolate for my nieces and my parents, slabs of beautiful chocolate, similar to what I buy when I’m in Europe which I can never find in the US and not in the same flavors. For my team back at the office, I bought cookies. I have no idea how Singaporean they are since you tend to lose authenticity when you’re buying at an airport meant to cull tourist dollars but it was the best I could find. At least it was better than bringing back Kit Kats and M&Ms.  

Singapore Eats Part 2

August 20, 2015 - Singapore Eats, Part 2

Bless my coworkers because they took my desire to “eat local” to heart and lunch the next day was even more “local” than the day before. It wasn’t in a mall but was a busy restaurant nearby filled with other locals. They introduced me to “Chicken Rice” which is roast chicken in a light delicious soy-sauce-based sauce, almost like a teriyaki and a cup of rice. Not just any rice but really, really good rice. I don’t eat rice very often but if all rice was like the rice in Chicken Rice, I’d probably have it every day. They told me Chicken Rice is very Singaporean. I applaud them for their good taste. Oh and it isn't "Chicken and Rice" but "Chicken Rice". I know because I was politely corrected when I tried to add the "and" in there, lol.

We also had some kind of pork wrapped in a crispy skin, fried crisp and sliced into rounds from a log. I asked what it was called and they told me but neither my ears nor my tongue can do it justice so I won’t embarrass myself by trying to name it. Just trust me that it was delicious. We also had crispy, lightly bread shrimp. Can’t go wrong with that either. Plus a local dish of noodles, also quite good. My only issue with noodle dishes is they invariably come with bean sprouts. Back in the US, I always request the dishes be made without it but when in Asia, I didn’t want to be that American tourist insisting on how I want things so I just went with the flow, especially since all the dishes are shared and I’m sure my colleagues, unlike me, don’t consider bean sprouts the devil’s toothpicks.

Crispy Fried Shrimp

After work, I wandered back to the underground mall we had gone to for lunch the previous day.

It was the Raffles City Mall. I didn’t spend too much time on the bigger shops; they were just like what was available at home, literally. Instead, I poked around the little eateries and the local grocery store. I love walking the aisles of a grocery store when I travel. It sounds so simple but I like seeing what’s locally available. Sometimes you really have to look because it can be mostly global brands – Oreos, Kit Kats, Hershey bars, and Ritz crackers abound. But sometimes I discover different flavors I only see in other countries like Coconut Oreos and seaweed flavored chips. At least I assume we don’t have them in the US since I don’t shop Asian grocery stores when I’m at home.

I found a different bakery this time and picked out a couple of different bread rolls for dinner that night. It may seem like a humble meal and at less than $5 SGD, I’m not exactly padding the expense report but, hello, Asian bread. I’m there. I was staying in a really nice hotel but the cheapest room service entrée cost more than I spent eating local in a day. So no room service for me. Even if room service had been free, I still would’ve preferred wandering the underground malls and little eateries for sustenance.  That’s how I like to experience a country - through its food.

Singapore Eats Part 1

August 19, 2015 - Singapore

I recently returned from a work trip to Singapore. I’ll spare you descriptions of all the meetings I had with my APAC colleagues but I will freely share all the eats to be enjoyed in Singapore. I do this partly because I just like posting pictures of food (like that needs to be said – snort) but also as part of my travelogue to document what I enjoyed in case I ever go back or want to recommend it to someone going there in the future; I like having specifics to point to.

The bakery I found walking from the hotel to the office

 

First of all, if you’ve never been to Singapore, you should rectify that. It’s an interesting place and one of the few places in Asia where I see a very diverse group of people, not just Singaporeans but other Asians from the rest of the continent as well as Europeans, Australians and Americans amongst others. I’ve always thought of it as expat country since so many global companies have their Asia headquarters in Singapore and there’s a large expat population working out of Singapore for their respective companies.

Curry Pok

Second, if you like shopping and eating, Singapore is a must-see destination. It’s probably only rivaled by Hong Kong in the plethora of shops in its business district. What’s fascinating and tremendously convenient about Singapore’s shops is many are located underground in esplanades that connect high rise buildings and public transportation together. Think of it as an underground, air conditioned mall. This type of set up is more common in Asia and makes for convenient walking, especially when it’s hot and/or humid and outdoor walking is to be avoided.

And it’s not just shops in the underground esplanades but a number of eateries. Like a food court on steroids but with local, delicious food. My Singapore coworkers tell me the locals have high expectations for great food and from what I could tell in the brief time I spent there, those expectations are readily met and they’re right to have high standards.

On my first day, I walked through an underground esplanade on the way from my hotel to our office. Lo and behold, the path took me past a local bakery. I swear, I have an inner GPS that never steers me wrong on discovering local bakeries. It’s a typical Asian bakery that leans more towards breads and savory items than sweets and cakes, although they had some of the latter  too. What I love most about Asian bakeries? Bread! They’re soft and just unbearably good. My first breakfast was a simple bread roll with a sausage stuffed in it. The sausage was my concession to protein but it was the bread itself that was comforting goodness. I’ll never get tired of Asian-made bread.

Later that same morning, my coworkers introduced me to a typical Singapore coffee break: 3 types of coffees, mostly differentiated by whether you added evaporated milk, sweetened condensed milk or no milk, curry pok which was like empanadas filled with potatoes and fried, and “Chinese roti” which is unlike the Indian roti of flaky flat bread. Instead it was soft white bread  - not Wonder white bread, mind you, this had flavor and texture – slathered with butter and a local jam, kaya, that was a cross between dulce de leche and coconut. It’s a typical Singapore breakfast and quite good.

Lunch with a couple of coworkers was in a different underground mall-type food court but food court is such a humble term for the plethora of little eateries and restaurant in this particular underground bevy of shops and food places. We went to a place called Teahouse, The Asian Kitchen and you order dishes family style to share.

Noodles

Crispy Fried Garlic Ribs (boneless)

Roast Duck in plum sauce

We got the house specialty of roasted duck in plum sauce, noodles, fried rice, long beans (not pictured) and crispy fried ribs. OMG, everything was delicious. The plates were typical Asian size, meaning rather tiny so you’re forced to not be a pig – cough – at least, not all at once. Fortunately I know how to eat with chopsticks passably well so I could partake of the food with decent facility. Service was quick as it’s the type of place that has a limited number of tables, almost all of which were full when we arrived and turned over fairly quickly. Such a convenient place for lunch and delicious as well. I may have a hard time adjusting when I go back home and don’t have these kinds of variety of places to choose from in a compact, convenient location.

After lunch, we did a quick walkaround the underground floor of the mall and, of course, I found a dessert stand to patronize. It was called Awfully Chocolate and while there wasn't a huge variety on offer, what they did have looked delicious and I was hard pressed to limit myself to just one. But I did because lunch had been sufficient and I was only looking for an afternoon snack for later.

I settled on the Hazelnut Crumble and it turned out to be a slightly cakey brownie with hazelnut crumbles on top. It looked deceptively fudgy and dense but it actually wasn't. More like a baked mousse with an airy texture rather than the rich fudginess of an American brownie that I was used to. It was still good but if I had my way, I would probably remake it as a more traditional fudgy brownie, top it with a thin layer of nutella then sprinkle coarsely chopped toasted hazelnuts on top. Hmm, maybe next time I bake brownies.... In any case, lunch was so satisfying that I ended up just eating half the hazelnut crumble and a bread roll for dinner.