CNY cornflake cookies with molasses sugar (toaster oven)

I know.. it's not even Christmas.. and why am I baking CNY cookies? Here goes the story...

 

Mom has been doing some tidying up at her house before she leaves Sandakan and would not probably be back till next year. Whoa! Sounds like a long time. Anyway, she was gutted cos she couldn't find her favorite cornflake cookies which she used to bake with her fellow friends, ie Aunty Wai Fong, Aunty Judy and Aunty Marianne. I told her, 'aiya.. these days.. it isn't hard looking for a recipe what? We have google!' .. I then browsed through a few of my favorite blogger-friends (so called 'friends'.. LOL) .. and came to this. Mom wanted the recipe that roll the dough in crushed cornflakes rather than having cornflakes in the cookie dough. I also did a comparison between a few, and realized the butter and egg ratio makes this one stand out, I believe it's gonna be quite crunchy and very buttery. That's how a good cookie should be right? And like it that the sugar content is quite low compared to the rest.

 

We still had about 2 hours before we leave the shop and fetch the lil' fella up. I just bought a small cheap toaster oven a few days ago and is still rejoicing over the fact that I can bake perfectly soft and fluffy bread with it, so we decided we're gonna make a batch of these cookies to try out. To try out (1) the recipe, and (2) whether if my toaster oven can cope baking cookies.

 

 

 

Recipes adapted from here

 

Ingredients
85g sugar (I used molasses sugar) (Reason: love its aroma and it is less sweet compared to white or icing sugar)
113g unsalted butter (only had 100g butter left, so used only 100g butter)
141g self-raising flour, sifted (used 150g plain flour with 1tsp of baking powder)
1/2 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups lightly crushed cornflakes

*I also added dried organic blackcurrants into half of the cookie dough

Method:1. Cream butter and molasses until soft and fluffy.

2. Add egg and vanilla extract.
3. Fold in flour in one go and shape the biscuit dough into the size of small limes. (I shaped the biscuit dough into 1tbsp small round shape, and after baked, we realized it was too big! as mom said, it should be a size that one can eat with one bite, not two or three bites, cos it crumb easily.. so next time gotta shape into 1tsp round shape).
4. Roll the dough balls into the cornflakes and place on a lined baking tray about 1 1/2" apart.
5. Bake cookies in a preheated oven of 160-170C for 15-18 mins. (For my toaster oven, I baked it at 190 deg for 15min.. and I guess you know.. it came out a little burnt underneath. Don't ask me why I did that!?) .. Message to myself: Next time, bake it at 175deg for just 10min.

 

Despite all that, I still love this recipe, I would definitely use it to bake my CNY cornflake cookies and may possibly add some variations to it. I love the ones with dried blackcurrants in. I love it that when I bite into these crunchy cookies, there will be some dried blackcurrants or raisins that stick to my teeth. Would be using molasses sugar too. It gives it the non-typical cornflake cookies look, it is darker in color, almost like it has cocoa powder added to it. And it is just the right sweetness. Not too overpowering at all.