Lime and polenta cake
You can tell the state of the economy by the price of a lime, or so the saying goes. What it’s meant to tell you, I’m not sure, but I can reliably inform you that limes in these here parts cost a small fortune at the …
Tag: sweet
Ginger shortbread with orange curd
This idea came to me by accident, really. I’m always a fan of shortbread, so any excuse for that. But the orange part happened when a lonely orange, languishing in the fruit bowl, happened to cross my field of vision whilst I was enjoying a Sunday morning …
Raspberry Rings…with jam and Nutella
Lucky me, to receive this lovely baking book for my birthday from my similarly kitchen-obsessed little sister. Alice Arndell’s Alice in Bakingland is a treat for the eyes as much as anything, full of pictures of dainty plates, matching teacup-and-saucer sets, all showing off delightful mounds of delicious cakes and biscuits. Squeal!
So of course it was absolutely necessary that I set about testing some of these recipes as a matter of priority. These Raspberry Rings happen to be the very first recipe of the book. Yes, I was only one recipe in when I came across my first ‘must bake.’ I prefer to think this says more about the calibre of the recipes and less about just plain greediness on my part.
To make Alice’s lovely Raspberry Rings, I started by creaming together 200g softened butter and half a cup of sugar, then beating in 4 tablespoons of condensed milk, as directed. Readers of my blog may be aware of my love of creamed butter and sugar. Condensed milk does nothing to dampen the flame.
I continued to add the required 2 tablespoons of milk, 2 cups of plain flour, 2 teaspoons of baking powder and 1/4 teaspoon of salt. The recipe asks that one shapes the dough into two flat discs, wraps in plastic wrap and refrigerates. Here are mine:
After half an hour in the chiller, one disc of dough is rolled out onto a very well floured board. And can I stress here the importance of lots of flour from my personal experience…it’s always a little upsetting to pick one’s hard-earned dough from the roller. Alice directs that the dough is rolled out to 4mm thickness, and 5mm rounds are cut from the dough. I have a lovely star-shaped cookie cutter that I simply don’t get to use enough, so I decided to do some star-shaped biscuits as well.
Now the surgical precision really begins….the next step is to cut little shapes from the centre of these rounds (and stars, in my case). I recommend a good sharp knife for this.
The second disc of dough becomes the bottom layer of the biscuits, so I made a second set of rounds and stars. The biscuits are baked at 190 degrees celsius until just going brown around the edges – this took about 10 minutes in my oven. Once cool, it’s time to sandwich the biscuits. Alice’s recipe asks for a teaspoon of jam, and I used mixed berry for about half of mine.
For the other half, I had a brainwave…Nutella. This delightful chocolate and nut spread billed as some kind of health breakfast condiment is usually something I eat from the jar with a spoon, so the step to delicious chocolately cement for biscuits wasn’t too difficult at all.
A gentle dusting with icing sugar and they are ready to go. The verdict? Both pretty and scrumptious. I can’t wait to try some more from this book.
Coconut & yoghurt loaf with lime icing
Regular readers of this blog may have noticed that I am fortunate to have parentals who kindly bring me ingredients from their travels, with which I can then experiment. And so today, I’m going to tell you all about my fun with a bottle of …
Spiced maple biscuits
Who doesn’t love a bit of maple syrup? The indigenous people of the Americas were the first to harvest maple sap. One legend credits the humble squirrel with its discovery, telling of a young boy who watched a red squirrel nip at the bark of a maple …
Macadamia and chocolate chunk cookies
Who knew that the Sunshine Coast of Queensland, Australia was a hot bed of macadamia nut growing? I for one did not, and yet, I find myself in possession of a packet of macadamia nuts from Nutworks, thanks to my parentals and their recent visit to this part of the world.
I just love macadamia nuts. They are so rich and meaty and make such good friends with chocolate. They seem to be one of the fattiest nuts available, and this is pretty much in line with the rest of my tastes. I always like the foodstuff that’s supposedly the worst for you. Well, life just wouldn’t be any fun otherwise, would it.
Having attacked this packet of nuts over the past week or so and marauded it for idle snacking purposes only, I decided I really owed it to these fine little nuts to do something substantial with them. The idea of a chewy biscuit and some good chocolate appealed. Macadamia and chocolate chunk cookies it was.
I adapted this recipe from my go-to chocolate chip biscuit recipe, Cadbury’s own. I rather proud of myself because, as discussed in earlier posts, my biscuit-making can be a little hit and miss, but these were quite pleasant; sweet and chewy.
To make these, you will need:
- 70g butter, softened
- 1/4 cup brown sugar
- 1/4 cup caster sugar
- 1 egg
- 3/4 cup self raising flour
- 1/2 t vanilla paste or vanilla essence
- 1/2 cup chopped dark chocolate
- 1/4 cup chopped macadamia nuts
Makes: 15
Set your oven to 160 degrees celsius.
Start by creaming the butter and sugars together until they are light and fluffy.
Whisk in the egg. Add the vanilla paste or essence and mix this in too.
I include reference here to vanilla paste, as recently I decided to splash out and buy some of this stuff. And it’s lovely! It looks a little gloopy, but it adds a lovely flavour to one’s baking, and has those delightful little flecks of vanilla seed that make any dessert seem a little bit posher and gourmet.
Stir in the flour.
Chop up your dark chocolate – I used Whittaker’s 50% dark chocolate because I love it so. I think you could go for even darker chocolate and it would still be lovely in these cookies.
Chop up the macadamia nuts too (which is a bit challenging because the little blighters roll away…watch your fingers!).
Add the nuts and chocolate to the mix and fold through.
Put teaspoonfuls on a greased tray and bake for 15 – 20 minutes until golden brown. I would urge you not to make them bigger than this – I got greedy with a couple, and they when they spread out they were a little unweildy.
Cool on a plate or rack and enjoy!
Albert Squares
Albert Squares are the next instalment in my Edmonds challenge series, following Afghan Biscuits in the index section of the Edmonds Cookbook. Although not strictly – there is an entry for Afghan Slice hot on the heels of Afghan Biscuits. However, the recipe for Afghan …
Pink and white cupcake glory
As I’m sure you’ve all noticed, the cupcake craze is well and truly in full swing. Although I haven’t jumped on the bandwagon hook line and sinker, every now and then I get the urge to bake and decorate some little morsels of cupcake prettiness. …