Articles and Recipes — Silicone Flour Scraper

Just when you thought cookie season was over, I would like to introduce you to two traditional Chinese New Year Cookie recipes Hup Toh So and Almond Cookies.  

Almond Cookies are created using traditional wooden molds, last year I demonstrated using husMait round cookie cutters and the bottom of husMait measuring cups. See that post here. The base of the 1/3 cup Stainless Steel Measuring Cup fits perfectly into the second smallest Stainless Steel Cookie Cutters and the 1/8 Stainless Steel Cup can be used in the smallest Stainless Steel Cookie Cutter.

This year I was able to go to Shanghai Street, in Hong Kong to buy the traditional wooden molds, and I am returning to Helen Au’s A Step Full of You for her Vegan Chinese Almond Cake Biscuit recipe. I love the way the traditional molds shaped the cookies.

Hup Toh So is a walnut cookie this year I am using a recipe from Daily Cooking Quest by Anita. If you are looking for a vegan version, I like this one from What To Cook Today, or simply replace the butter with vegan butter or vegetable shortening.

Products used in baking these recipes: 

Today I am sharing the pie crust recipe that I have been using for over 40 years. I am including some Baking 101 tips I learned in my high school home economics class. You can find my video tutorial over on our Instagram IGTV.

One Double-Crust Pie Shell
Ingredients
2 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup of solid shortening 
6 Tablespoons cold water 

Equipment 
Measuring Cups
Measuring Spoons
Silicone Rolling Mat
Silicone Rolling Pin
Set of 2 Flour Scraper
Essentials Bakeware 5 Piece Set
Melamine Mixing Bowls                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           

Note: It is important to sift flour before you measure it. The flour inside the bag will have become dense during transport and handling. Then lightly fill the cup, being careful not to pack the flour. Finally, use a knife to level off the cup. 

2) Add the shortening and cut it into the flour. 

Note: There are three ways of incorporating the flour using two knives, or a pastry blender, or rub it in with your fingers. If you decide to use your fingers it is important not to overwork the dough or let the mixture get too warm. 

Note: When measuring shortening, press it firmly into the cup, pushing out any air bubbles that will affect the measurement.  

Note: When using knives or the pastry blender the mixture will look like small peas. If rubbing the mixture will look like coarse sand. 

3) Add the water, one tablespoon at a time. Gently mix with a fork or silicon flour scraper between each additional tablespoon of water. Note: Do not overwork the dough. 

4) Bring the dough gently together using your hands and place it on the husMait silicone rolling mat. And form a ball and divide it into two. 

5) Roll the crust into a circle. Dust the surface of the rolling mat lightly with flour and roll into a circle to fit the size of your pie plate. The husMait Silicone Rolling mat has easy to read design that includes measurements for dough sizes. These graduated circles take the guess work out of what size to roll the dough. 

Note: Flatten the 1/2 dome into a disc, pinching any obvious cracks together. You can continue gently repairing cracks that begin at the edges by gently pinching it together as you roll. 

Note: Lightly flour underneath the crust occasionally to allow the dough to move as it enlarges. 

It is my hope that the tips and tricks I share here will help you become a more confident and successful home baker.  So that you will be able to share your love in real and tangible ways. 

Our family has a range of healthy eating requirements, which makes finding recipes for the whole family challenging.  However I have just found a fantastic recipe on the back of the Kirkland Signature Almond Flour bag.  The recipe is gluten free but with two small tweaks everyone in our home can enjoy this.  

I replaced the dairy butter with a Miyokos European Style Cultured Vegan Butter and the egg with a Flax Seed egg replacement. Check your cocoa powder and chocolate chips to ensure they fit your dietary requirements.  We used Kirkland Semi Sweet Chocolate Chips and Ghirardellie Premium Baking Cocoa.  

Our 3 Piece Mixing Bowl Sets are awesome tools for this bake. If you are looking for a value our 11 Piece Bakeware Set comes with the 3 stainless steel bowls, valued separately $18.99  (regularly for $30.00) plus the stainless steel measuring spoon valued separately for $13.99, which means the 3 stainless steel colanders are a steal at $8.01! 

I thought I would mention again my high school Home Economic teachers training of assembling all of the ingredients and equipment before baking. Our equipment list is below the recipe. This combined with reading the recipe throughly before beginning really helps for an efficient, no mistakes bake.  

Gluten Free Almond Brownies recipe as written by Kirkland Signature:

INGREDIENTS 

2 tablespoons butter, softened 
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg
1/4 cup almond beverage
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup Kirkland Signature Almond Flour
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/8 teaspoon sea salt
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 cup chopped whole natural almonds
1/4 cup dark chocolate chips
more almonds for garnish

PREPARATION 

Heat oven to 350F

Cream together butter and sugar in a large mixing bowl. Blend in egg. Blend in almond milk and vanilla

In a medium bowl, whisk together almond flour, cocoa powder, sea salt, and baking powder.  Add to butter mixture and blend just until mixed. Stir in chopped almond and chocolate chips. 

Coat an 8”x8” baking pan with non stick cooking spray. Pour batter into prepared pan and spread evenly. Bake 30-35 minutes

Remove from the oven and allow to cool slightly before slicing and serving.

Garnish with more chopped almonds or with sliced almonds toasted.  

 HusMait Equipment suggested for this recipe:

It’s rhubarb season, which lasts from April to July in most places. The warmer the climate the shorter the season.

My memories of rhubarb go back to spring and my teenage years when I picked rhubarb from the back garden, where I recall it growing all summer long. Rhubarb pie is one of the first pies I learned to bake and was my dad’s favorite. 

Fast forward to heart-healthy eating and fewer people at home to eat a pie and I need my rhubarb fix in a different way.  I was really pleased to find this recipe for Strawberry Rhubarb Crisp from  Once Upon a Chef.  I decided to try her recipe because of the simplicity of the ingredients and the added pecans and oats in the topping. 

I was also very excited that this was a quick recipe to assemble and would be easy to transport to a picnic or beautifully elegant to serve at a dinner party. 

I did make two changes - first I substituted gluten-free Namaste Perfect Flour Blend and second Miyoko’s European-style vegan butter. This recipe calls for a 2-quart baking dish, I used my 9.5 inch Pyrex pie dish which worked fantastically.

The two-part method is easy. First, wash and cut your fruit. Then mix the fruit well with granulated sugar, cornstarch, and vanilla in a large bowl. Transfer this to the baking dish. 

Second, create the topping by combining flour, brown sugar, granulated sugar, salt, and cold butter in a medium bowl using a pastry cutter. Then stir in the oats and chopped pecans. Spoon this mixture over the fruit. 

The crumble smelled delicious as it baked and the topping came out crispy and browned with lovely bubbly fruit beneath.  We ate it simply as it was. Adding whipped cream or ice cream would have been heavenly! 

Equipment used: Our Bowl Sets are currently on SALE June 2021

Today the Spotlight is on husMait's Set of 3 Melamine Mixing Bowls.

This set has become my go-to mixing bowls. I love the comfortable feel, versatility, and ease of use. These bowls have been designed for prepping and serving. They are space-saving with a stackable and nesting design which helps de-clutter kitchen cupboards. They have an easy-grip lip that makes for easy handling and allows ingredients to flow evenly when pouring. There is a rubber foot on the base to keep the bowl from slipping. They are easy to clean, dishwasher safe, refrigerator safe, freezer safe, and non-stick. The bowls come in 1.5L / 1.5 quarts, 2L / 2 quarts, and 3L / 3 quarts sizes.

Many recipes call for separate bowls for prepping wet ingredients, or dry ingredients, or ingredients that need to be added in a certain order, and these three bowls are perfect for this.

The tall sides and bowl shape is perfect when beating ingredients, it minimizes splatter and mess, and the shape allows for good aeration when whipping cream or egg whites. The Silicone Flour Scraper pairs perfectly with the shape of these bowls; making mixing and removing batter a breeze.

You can purchase these bowls in their Set of 3 Melamine Mixing Bowls or in the Ultimate 14 Piece Bakeware Set which is an outstanding value. 

Let us know how you are using this set of mixing bowls and what you like best about them in the comments and reviews.  

With warm wishes for your home,
from the husMait home kitchen.

We lived in Hong Kong for 30 years, longer than I lived in the United States!         In that time Chinese New Year became a traditional holiday for our family, rivaling the festivities of Christmas. This year Chinese New Year falls on Feb 12, 2021, and it begins on the evening before is celebrated for at least 3 days and often longer. It is a time of elaborate dinners, gift-giving, trips to the Victoria Park Flower Market, Dim Sum, and Lion Dances. 

Food is central to Chinese New Year traditions in the way it is created, gifted, and consumed.  There are customs and traditions going back generations in regards to the variety, shape, and color of the food. So when I saw Helen Au’s Vegan Chinese Almond Cookies I knew I had to make them. 

Unfortunately, I do not have traditional wooden almond cookie molds. A quick google search will show you what I am talking about. However, as I was contemplating this challenge I came up with an amazing cheat! The basic premise of a cookie mold is to compress the sandy texture dough into a solid shape that can be turned out onto a baking surface. While living in HK for 30 years I became very adept at substitution and ingenuity- So I just reverse-engineered, and used what I have to create a mold - the base of the 1/3 cup Stainless Steel Measuring Cup fits perfectly into the second smallest Stainless Steel Cookie Cutters and the 1/8 Stainless Steel Cup can be used in the smallest Stainless Steel Cookie Cutter.