Ever since work started for me, I find myself leading a quieter but (probably) better lifestyle. Working honestly isn't tiring, but oddly, there's this part of me feeling 'mentally-tired' to go out. I'm too tired to catch a movie, too tired to meet my friends, and too tired to leave my home (to the extent that I've been cooking instant noodles for lunch). It's a first kind of experience..

True enough, the long hours of standing was never an issue for me, it's the stress I put on myself that made me mentally-drained. I fear acts of carelessness, making blunders and most of all, doing the things that I've done before wrongly.

It's been a few weeks at the restaurant, so this makes me feel that underperforming is not accepted anymore. Plus when the service time gets crazy, when all the dessert orders 'fire' together, when the two timers next to the oven start counting, or sometimes when the head chef walks over, the competition between time and me (us) unknowingly makes me stress.

That's life out there. Being in school rarely give me such reflections, but I have to say I really treasure this a lot.

In fact it's not something I notice until now, as I write this. Because all of a sudden, I realise I stopped catching up with my friends as frequently, going for movies once a week..... all I want to do after/before work is bake.

It was the same for Saturday too... I woke up a few times in the morning, convincing myself to sleep a little longer until I finally gave up. It was 9.30am. I wanted to bake biscuits, by that I do not mean Irish Buttermilk Scones (although I wouldn't mind too ^^). I want to make my childhood biscuits, something that can bring me away :)

I took quite a long time finding the recipe because I only knew them as "biscuits" at home. Their actual name is "Petit Beurre" which means little butter in French. I'd still prefer to call them biscuits though. It sounds so simple, child-like and its afterall what I grew up calling them! I work on the dough immediately, roll them, chill them, cut them and kept it away into the freezer.

I baked them this morning and tray after tray of biscuits that went into the oven looked promising. When the first batch finally cool down, I took my first bite excitedly (and anxiously).

It was really the biscuit I was looking for. The biscuit I used to eat every afternoon after kindergarten and dipping them into a cup of hot Milo. It sure brings back a lot of fond memories =)Although many things have changed over the years, I still have to say that I went through a really happy childhood. It was simple, playing cookery, hide&seek, and eating Ribena Ice-pops with my brothers!

On a pretty random note, my brother was actually asking me

"why are you taking pictures of something not even made by you"

Omg, I felt super flattered. The biscuits look identical so my brother thought I bought them LOL! :D

Previous post: Cheesecake Brownie

Petit Beurre
recipe from Cookies in Motion
(I divided the recipe by 3)

437g (3 1/2 cup) flour
75g (1/2 cup) cornflour/cornstarch
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
170g (12 tbsp) butter, softened
200g (1 cup) sugar
3 yolks
245g (1/2 cup) milk

Cream the butter and sugar for 1-2 minutes.

Meanwhile, stir then sieve the remaining dry ingredients into a medium bowl. Get ready the yolk and milk.

Add in the yolk and continue mixing until combined.

Pour half of the flour and mix, followed by the milk, and remaining of the flour. Using a spatula, scrap down the sides of your mixing bowl occasionally. Mix on medium speed and stop once combined.

Transfer it onto a parchment paper and then cover it with one more sheet of it. Flatten it gently and roll them using a rolling pin until evenly thin.

It may take some time to cover the entire rectangle perfectly. It's okay even if you can't spread them like this, they whole idea is simply to achieve an even sheet of biscuit dough :) Of course if you'd prefer to have your biscuits thick, that is fine too! Just take note that it'll take a longer baking time. Transfer it onto a big tray and then chill for 3 hours.

Now take out your magic cutter (magic indeed!! Don't you just love the edges?!? I got it at Singapore Daiso by the way^^). Roll it along the sides, cutting the big rectangle into half, then the two rectangles into half, then the four rectangles into half again (Ok you should know what I mean??). Do it until you are happy with your biscuit size :D

Sprinkle with a bit of flour if you find that it's beginning to soften again. Make the cute little holes using a big fork and then keep them into the freezer. (Trust me! If you don't, your dough'll be so so soft that they won't stay their nicely-cut shape when you lift it to spread them out for baking)

I ended up freezing them overnight because I had to leave for work already. So this morning I wake up again and used a angle spatula to lift them up. They are frozen so it's really easy to handle the thin biscuits. Place them on parchment paper again.

Bake in preheated oven (160degreeC, 325degreeF) for 9-10minutes until the edges are slightly brown. Let cool before eating. Enjoy!