Raspberry & White Chocolate Chunk Biscuits

RASPBERRY & WHITE CHOCOLATE CHUNK BISCUITS (Adapted from Carnation)

225g butter, softened
225g sugar
170g sweetened condensed milk
350g self raising flour
150g white cooking chips
175g frozen raspberries

Preheat the oven to 180C (160C for fan forced ovens). Grease and line baking trays.
Cream the butter, sugar and condensed milk in a large bowl until pale.
Mix in the flour and then fold in the chocolate chips and raspberries. (if you use frozen raspberries like I did, the end result will be prettier because they do not start leaking juices through the mixture when frozen. When fresh or defrosted, the juices can lead to a purple muddled look throughout the dough. If you are using fresh raspberries, instead of mixing them in, you could press it into the dough after you roll it into balls.)
Roll the dough into smooth round walnut sized balls, spacing them from others on the tray by about 2 inches to leave room for spreading.
Bake for 15-18 minutes, or until the edges become lightly golden. Remove from the oven and set aside for 5 minutes before placing on a cooling rack. Store in airtight container.

NOTES: You can roll the dough into a sausage shape and cover in plastic wrap and freeze. Cut the dough with a sharp knife and bake from frozen. You can also refrigerate the dough for a few weeks prior to cooking if you like.

Makes 30

Decorated Heart Sugar Cookies with Gumpaste Roses

This Mother's Day I asked my kiddies what they would like to make for mum, and my eldest daughter pulled out the cookie cutters. Mr 5 pored through a recipe book and pointed out a recipe for sugar cookies-so we got to it. I knew these gorgeous cookies would make the perfect budget friendly gift!
How important is involving children in cooking? I think it's a crucial life skill that needs to be encouraged at a very young age. I've vowed not to let one child of mine leave home without a good set of cooking skills under their belt-and not only the essentials. If you're wondering how to instill a love for cooking in your kids, there's a wonderful guide to cooking skills outlining appropriate cooking tasks listed by age, starting from three years and up. As painfully slow and messy it can be, I always allow my kids to get involved when I'm baking. They're too small to do much yet, but they do love activities like beating, rolling, measuring, sifting, licking the spoon....

BASIC SUGAR COOKIES (Adapted by Love Food pg.16)

115g butter, softened
55g caster sugar
1 tsp finely grated lemon rind
1 egg yolk
175g plain flour

Mix the butter and sugar with beaters until creamy. Beat in the rind and the yolk. Sift in the flour and mix into a soft dough. Gently knead until smooth, then halve the dough and form into two balls. Wrap in cling wrap and refrigerate for an hour (or the freezer for 20 minutes)
Preheat the oven to 180C (350F).
Grease and line two baking trays. 
Unwrap the dough and roll out on a lightly floured surface to the thickness of about 5mm/1/4 inch. Using a heart shaped cutter, cut out the dough and place the shapes on the baking trays with at least 2cm space between them.
Bake in the preheated oven for 10-12 minutes, or until they begin to turn golden.
Remove from oven and cool on a cooling rack. When completely cool, ice with royal icing, and decorate if desired.

ROYAL ICING

2 tbsp beaten egg white
175g icing sugar
water or lemon juice, if needed

Place the egg white in a bowl and add a little sugar. Beat until smooth. Gradually beat in the remaining sugar to make a smooth, thick icing that holds soft peaks. For a thinner, spreadable icing, beat in a few drops of water or lemon juice to get the required consistency. To colour the icing, use a toothpick to add a little liquid or gel food colouring an mix thoroughly.
To ice the hearts, outline the cookies with the thicker icing and allow o ry, then fill in with a more spreadable royal icing. We decorated with a smaller version of these gumpaste roses and store bought edible pearls.

Chewy Choc Chip Biscuits

Mumma's got a bee in her bonnet, and it's got nothing to do with food.
Heading into the post office yesterday, the man behind the desk who was about to serve me stuck his nose further over the edge to peer down at three gorgeous little tykes in tow and one blossoming bump on the front of me. He counted the kids out loud, slowly and like a fool, as if there were just too many to number.
Then he looked at me with wide eyes and said, "Four? What are you doing? I mean, you obviously know what you're doing, but WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!"
I'm used to people commenting on the size of my little family with a wry smile, in semi joke form, and have found it easy to laugh off, with most people making no further comment. But this guy was unsmiling, obnoxious, and I knew he wasn't going to let it go.
"Have you got it worked out yet?" he asked. No, I'm just so uneducated, I don't now how babies are made.
My blood was steady boiling, but I had nothing to say. I just laughed, but inside I was punching in his irritating face. I wondered if I could get away with assault with the excuse of crazy pregnancy hormones raging around. A cat had totally got my tongue and I had no clever retaliation.
"Two is enough for me" grumbled the man, huffing. I turned around and there was a huge queue behind me.
"Well I admit, they're hard work, but so worth it" I smiled at him. "Four 500g satchels, please."
Inside I was saying "go screw yourself" but I am glad I didn't say that. My babies are my everything. Since when has it become okay for people to make rude comments on family size choices and pregnancy? It feels that as soon as you're showing a baby bump it gives every man and his dog the okay to go and judge and poke and make the rudest comments about fertility, family choices and the size of your body. "Don't you have a TV?" That's my favourite, along with "There are ways of not having more, you know."
As I left I turned back to him and said "I'm one of ten kids, you know. Four is nothing." I laughed at that jaw drop and out we all trotted.
Then I went home and stuffed my face with these biscuits. They're wonderful comfort food and packed full of happy-inducing chocolate chips. Bring on the questions as to whether I'm expecting twins, these thick, chewy delicious choc chip biscuits were well worth it.

CHEWY CHOC CHIP COOKIES (Adapted from All Recipes)

2 1/4 cups plain four
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
170g butter, room temperature
1 cup brown sugar, packed
1/2 cup white sugar
1 tbsp vanilla essence/extract
1 egg
1 egg yolk
1 cup chocolate chips (or more if desired)

Set the oven to 165C.
Sift the flour, baking soda and salt together in a medium bowl and set aside. In a separate bowl, beat the butter, brown sugar and white sugar until well combined. Add the vanilla and egg as well as the yolk. Beat until incorporated. Add the sifted mixture and beat until just combined. ix through the chocolate chips by hand.
Place rounded tablespoon-worths of mixture onto greased and lined trays, about 6 cms apart to allow for spreading. Bake for 15-17 minutes until they begin to turn golden brown. Remove from oven and leave to cool on trays for 5 minutes, before removing and placing on a wire rack.

Makes at least 20 (they started getting eaten before I had the opportunity to count them all!)

Lemon Meltaways

Is it really Christmas without a good helping of home made shortbread on the scene? These delectable lemon meltaway shortbreads are adorable and festive looking, coated in a thick layer of icing sugar. The flavour has been amped up with the fresh addiction of lemon juice and lemon zest, taking this melt in your mouth biscuit to heightened levels. They are great for gift giving, especially for that last minute Christmas cooking, and are a pretty addiction to any Christmas entertaining table. Forget Christmas, these babies are to be made all year round, they're that good!

LEMON MELTAWAYS (Adapted from My Baking Addiction)

3/4 cup butter, room temperature
1 cup icing sugar, divided
1 1/2 tbsp lemon zest (2-3 lemons depending on size)
3 tbsp fresh lemon juice
1 tbsp vanilla essence
1 3/4 cups + 2 tbsp plain flour
2 tbsp corn flour
pinch salt

Preheat the oven at 180C.
Cream together the butter and 1/3 cup of the icing sugar until light and fluffy. Add the zest, juice and vanilla, and beat until all the ingredients come together and are smooth.
Combine the flour, corn flour and salt in a small bowl. While beating the butter mixture, gradually add the flour mixture, about 1/4 cup at a time until well incorporated.
Divide the mixture in half, and roll each into 1 1/2 inch logs. wrap both in plastic wrap and place in the freezer for 1/2 an hour to harden.
Take the rolls from the freezer one at a time and slice with a sharp knife into 1/4 inch rounds. Place them on greased and lined biscuit trays. Bake for 13-14 minutes, or until the bottoms begin to turn golden. Leave to cool on the trays for 10 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack. When cool, use the remaining icing sugar in a bowl to coat the outside of each cookie.

NOTES: you can store these biscuits in an airtight container for up to one week.

Oreo Stuffed Choc Chip Biscuits

Whats thick and chewy, speckled with chocolate chips and has an oreo hidden inside?
These big beauties. Just wait until everyone sinks their teeth into these super man sized biscuits and exclaims in surprise at the dark, rich and chocolatey oreo hidden beneath the golden outer layer of choc chip biscuit. You might imagine all this biscuit plus an oreo in the centre would be going overboard, and perhaps too sweet to truly relish. But in reality, this biscuit stuffed in a biscuit is perfectly balanced. The chocolate chip biscuit is simple and plain, and the oreo-well we all know the oreo-it has a reputation for being dark, rich and handsome-something most people can't deny there's a strong attraction about.
Then again, I am a huge sweet tooth, and some people might find this biscuit overbearing. Do not let it put you off creating it! I have seen mini oreos for sale, and these would make for a great substitute for the regular sized ones, as there wouldn't be so much biscuit in one serve.
However if you're more full on like me, you will relish the rare opportunity to wolf down this giant cookie with your next mug of coffee. Be warned--you may just have to skip lunch!

OREO STUFFED CHOC CHIP BISCUITS (Adapted from Picky Palate)

1 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup brown sugar, packed
1 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1 tbsp. pure vanilla
3 1/2 plain flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda (or bicarb soda)
1 1/2 cups choc chips (small ones)
2 boxes of oreos (or approximately 24 biscuits in total)

Preheat the oven to 175C.
Beat the butter with the sugars in a large bowl until well combined. Then add the eggs and the vanilla and mix until well incorporated. Sift the flour, salt and baking soda into a separate bowl and combine. Add the chocolate chips. Gradually add this dry mixture to the wet mixture until just combined.
Take approximately one heaped tablespoon of the dough and place on the top of an oreo biscuit. Take another similar sized scoop of the mixture and place it one the bottom of the oreo. Merge the sides so that the dough completely covers the oreo, and your oreo is roughly in the centre of the dough. You can remove excess cookie dough from the top and bottom if it's looking too massive.
Place on a lined cookie tray and bake for approximately 10 minutes or until they begin to turn slightly golden at the corners. Cool on the tray for 5 minutes before removing to a wire rack.

Makes about 24 massive biscuits

Mad Easy Jam Coconut Macaroons

Coconut, shmokonut, we all love it around here. Thanks to this subtropical climate I live in, such flavours are much desired and a great match for the other tropical fruits that grow locally here, such as mango and banana. But there's long been a combination I've desired to see together. I'm a terrible matchmaker-most matches I make end in tears, so I'm better of sticking with food rather than ill-suited couples. I give myself brownie points for trying though (lets make that dark chocolate fudgy brownie points).
The local Woolworth store here has these amazing coconut drops with strawberry jam on the top, and I have been long looking for a recipe. The coconut is sweet and moist, but the little drops hold together beautifully and hardly look cooked--how do they do it? Anyway, I have not been able to find any recipe to compare. But I'm back with the Secret Recipe Club after my post baby break, and I was given the blog A Couple In The Kitchen to cook from. They have a great 4 ingredient recipe for coconut macaroons--and I just had to try it. It's so simple, quick, and gluten free--exactly the type of recipe a new mummy like me needs between baby sleeping and waking. They're also strangely addictive, and are sure to disappear from the kitchen very quickly.

When you first inhale that warm coconut aroma, and the sweet scent of boiling strawberry jam, you will realise that eating these coconut jam drops straight out of the oven is well worth burning the tongue for.

I've adapted the recipe a little to see if I could make them anything like the Woolworth's coconut drops. (It turns out, to my absolute glee, that they are very much like those delicious morsels! They're soft, sweet and moist with a little crunch on the outer--divine!) My husband also has a strong aversion to almond essence, which was in the original recipe, so I made them just vanilla instead. I also did not have sweetened flake coconut (I don't think we even sell sweetened coconut here in Australia!) so I used dessicated coconut, and found that the sweetness from the condensed milk was enough to satisfy any sweet tooth. I think the addition of strawberry jam also added just a little more sugar, and made these darling little coconut jam macaroons the perfect addition to an afternoon tea platter or even a festive little treat for the Christmas table.
Please don't forget to check out  A Couple In The Kitchen's blog...they are recent award winning bloggers!

MAD EASY JAM COCONUT MACAROONS (adapted from A Couple in the Kitchen)

3 cups dessicated coconut (unsweetened)
300g sweetened condensed milk (approx. 3/4 can)
3 tsp vanilla essence
1/4 cup strawberry jam

Preheat the oven to 180C.
Line one large baking tray with non stick paper. In a large bowl, place the coconut, condensed milk and vanilla essence. Stir until well incorporated. Scoop amounts the size of a golf ball into your hand and gently form into a round shape. Using your index finger, make a small indentation to the top, and place on tray and lightly flatten. Repeat until all the mixture is used up. Then fill the indentations with a little jam. Bake for 10-12 minutes, until lightly browned. Allow to cool on the tray before removing.

Makes approximately 18

Award Winning Lemon Crinkle Biscuits

They say when you start talking about the weather, you have nothing to say.  In some cultures, when they have nothing to say to one another, they talk food instead of weather. I know I'm always talking about the weather on here, but it's because to me, without a question, food and weather go hand in hand. Casseroles and cold winter nights, lemon and summertime, rainy days and comfort food. Call me boring, but weather sways my every move in the kitchen. So here I go again--Today was particularly warm for a winter's day--25C, and it made me rip off my cardigan and get baking in the kitchen with the kids, doors and windows flung open. We whipped up these amazing lemon crinkle biscuits, and the house was infused with citrus scents for the duration of the cooking. I've never tasted anything quite like them.  

They're sweet and crisp on the outside, soft and fudgy on the inside and taste just like summer feels to me--warm and golden, zesty and fresh. 

You absolutely will not be able to stop at one--so make a double batch, I guarantee you won't regret it. And a little note--do use fresh lemon juice and zest! It really makes all the difference and packs a punch. Now I want a lemon tree. Oh for a lemon tree. Lemon really is a perk-me-up.

LEMON CRINKLE BISCUITS (Adapted from LDS Living)

1/2 cup butter, softened
1 cup sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla essence
1 egg
1 tsp lemon zest, finely grated
1 tbsp lemon juice, freshly squeezed
pinch salt
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/8 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 cup plain flour
1/2 cup icing sugar

Preheat the oven to 180C. Grease and line baking trays with non stick baking paper and set aside.
In a medium bowl, beat the butter and sugar together until creamy and light. Add the vanilla, egg, zest and lemon juice. Beat until combined. Stir in the salt, baking powder, baking soda and flour until just combined. In a small bowl or plate, place the icing sugar. Take walnut sized balls of dough and roll them in the icing sugar until well covered. Place on the baking sheets and cook for 9-11 minutes, until the surfaces are matte and the bottoms are just beginning to brown ever so slightly. Remove from the oven and let sit on the baking trays for 3 minutes before removing and placing on a cooling rack.

Makes approximately 25-30
Tastes most awesome when still slightly warm from the oven.

Choc Chip Cookie Dough Bites

Most people wouldn't believe me when I said I have 6 brothers.
And that I was rarely teased by them.
But both are true.
I can remember just about every instant that I was teased, because it was so infrequently. I'm a super sensitive type, so I suppose that is maybe the reason I didn't get teased as much as most people would have been in my situation.
One instance I remember being teased, if it can be called that, is when my brother told me that I was going to get worms all throughout my body from eating raw pastry dough. I loved eating those "scraps" that were cut off my mother's quiches, and it terrified me that I was full of worms from eating so much of it.
So you can imagine my slight hesitation when I looked at Mis-Cakes Oven Adventures S'mores Cookie Dough Bites recipe and discovered them to be completely raw. I loved the sound of it, but the memories of that pastry incident flooded back, and I had a good laugh.

I made them, ate a few and felt like a very naughty little child for doing so. There's something so wrong about eating raw dough and not at least putting a bit of it in the oven. 

So wrong, but so right, because it's so yummy and you know none of it has to be baked. It's a completely safe recipe, as it contains no eggs, so even heavily pregnant me was able to delight in them. It would be the perfect snack to whip up for a ladies night in.

I didn't have any marshmallows on hand, so I can't honestly say that they are s'mores dough bites. I think they would be amazing with the addition of the sweet and spongy marshmallow bits though. I dipped mine in a little chocolate to make up for the lack of marshmallow. 

Don't forget to head over to check out the other recipes from The Secret Recipe Club reveal!

CHOC CHIP COOKIE DOUGH BITES (Adapted from Mis-Cakes Oven Adventures)

1/2 cup butter, room temperature
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
2 tbsp. milk
1/2 tsp. vanilla essence
1 cup plain flour
1/3 cup mini chocolate chips, plus an extra 1/2 cup for melting and dipping if desired
1/2 cup coarsely crushed biscuits

In a medium bowl, beat the butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Add the milk and vanilla and stir until just combined. Add the flour. Beat until a firm dough forms and all ingredients are incorporated. Add the chocolate chips and crushed biscuits, reserving a few tablespoons of the crumbs for sprinkling later. Stir into the mixture until combined. Roll into balls about the size of a walnut, placing each on a baking tray lined with with non stick baking paper.
Refrigerate for half an hour. Meanwhile, melt the extra chocolate chips. Dip half of each refrigerated dough ball in the melted chocolate and sprinkle with the reserved crumbs. Serve chilled.

Ultimate Chocolate Biscuits

I've long been on the look out for the ultimate chocolate biscuit recipe--fudgy, chewy, moist and not too over the top. The Woolworths supermarket bakery has these fantastic chocolate biscuits that are like sinking your teeth into chocolate mud cake, and I have always wanted the recipe. I finally found something similar and oh so delicious. It's probably the best home made chocolate biscuit I've ever had the pleasure to devour, along with  another favourite of mine, the Chocolate Crinkle Biscuit. I've adapted the recipe from here, where it has a five out of five star rating and over 250 reviews to back it up. I knew I couldn't go wrong there. It's sort of one of those fail proof recipes I think. It doesn't have any fancy ingredients and it's super quick and easy to make. The hard part is waiting for them to cool on the rack. My little son literally danced on the spot for 10 minutes waiting for them to cool he was so excited, and then announced "These are delicious! thanks babe!" His father has taught him well!

ULTIMATE CHOCOLATE BISCUITS

1 1/4 cup butter, softened
1 1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
2 tsp vanilla essence
2 1/4 cups plain flour
1 cup cocoa powder (unsweetened)
1 tsp baking soda or bicarb soda
pinch  salt
1 1/2 cups chocolate bits

Preheat the oven to 180C. Line two baking trays with baking paper and set aside.
In a large bowl, place the butter and the sugar and beat until light and fluffy and well combined. Add the eggs and vanilla and beat well. Add the flour, cocoa powder, soda and the salt and mix into the butter mixture with a spoon until incorporated. Fold the chocolate chips through this mixture.
Scoop heaped teaspoons of this mixture onto the prepared trays, spacing them a few inches apart to make room for spreading. Bake for 8-10 minutes. Biscuits will be soft and puffed up, and will flatten on cooling. Cool for 5 minutes on the trays before removing with a spatula and placing on a cooling rack until completely cool.

Makes between 40-50 depending on the size of your scoop!

Martha's Insane Chocolate Biscuits

I'm not going to lie to you. These biscuits are probably the ugliest things I have eaten to this date. Wait a second. I did once eat an escargot at a school function, and if you've ever seen one of those, it probably trumps these biscuits in ugliness. Only just.
But these biscuits just go to prove that you can't judge a book by its cover (although when it comes to escargot...that's another story). They're delicious, giant, double chocolate, fudge biscuits with a crackled top, and are so rich and decadent you couldn't possibly go back for another in one sitting. Or you could, because they're quite irresistible. You might have chocolate belly afterwards if you do though--don't tell me I didn't warn you! Martha Stewart is to blame--she sent me the email with this delicious recipe and I couldn't resist the temptation. Here's a good way to use up all those chocolates you were given over Christmas...why not chop them up and indulge in them inside a delicious, fudgy biscuit?

 

MARTHA'S INSANE CHOCOLATE BISCUITS (Adapted from Martha Stewart)

1 1/2 cups chocolate, roughly chopped
4 tbsp butter
2/3 cup plain flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
3/4 cup brown sugar, packed
2 cups chocolate chunks

Preheat the oven to 180C. Gently heat the chopped chocolate in the miscowave, removing and stirring every 20 seconds until smooth and thoroughly melted. Set aside.
Place eggs, sugar and vanilla in a medium bowl and beat with the electric mixer until light and fluffy. Beat in the melted chocolate on a low setting. Add the flour, baking powder and salt. Mix through until the dry ingredients are just combined with the wet. Stir the chocolate chunks through this mixture. On greased and paper lined trays, place heaped tablespoons of the mixture 2-3 inches apart. Do not be concerned that the mixture looks more like brownie batter than biscuit dough, this is as it should be for these particular biscuits.
Bake and rotate the trays half way through the cooking process, until shiny on the top and crackly, for 12-15 minutes. Cool on the trays for 10 minutes before removing and placing on a wire rack to complete the cooling process.

Dutch Spaculaas

My Opa was a Dutch gentleman with a family of 11 children. I suppose there wasn't a whole lot of money to go around. But when all the children left home I'm guessing there was more room for some niceties. I can still see him taking down a big square silver tin from the cupboard, beautifully embossed, and taking the lid off. There was a particular aroma that then flowed from within, marzipan and spices, and a delicious selection of European biscuits all on display.  There were the most delicious moist almond cakes and divine, large, round biscuits with a wafer  base. There were Spaculaas and chocolate dipped Bokkenpootjes. Pfeffernusse and Nurnberger Lebkuchen. All mouthwatering. I wish I could remember all the names of them!
There was a bit of a theme I noticed--spices and almonds. They seemed to be the common factor in a lot of the specialty biscuits.
This simple recipe for spaculaas combines both spices and almonds. Traditionally spaculaas has the imprint of a windmill on them, but I don't happen to possess any fancy molds. They're just as tasty without a pretty picture on them, or you can do as I did and roll a lace doily print onto the uncooked dough first. Slivered almonds also make for a lovely surface where a print cannot be found, and add lovely texture and flavour.
Prepare for your house to be filled with a cinnamon, clove, nutmeg and buttery aroma! It's truly magnificent. And these biscuits taste exactly like the spaculaas you can buy in the stores, with that fantastic melt in your mouth buttery texture.
God bless my Opa's cotton socks--he gave me some European taste buds I am most grateful for. I'm pretty sure I passed those onto my children too--they can't get enough of these biscuits! (And if you're one of those naughty raw cookie dough eaters, this recipe is egg-less, so you're safe to eat great quantities of it--if your heart so desires!)

DUTCH SPACULAAS

225g butter, room temperature
170g brown sugar
140g plain flour
140g Self Raising flour
2 heaped tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1/3 cup slithered almonds

Preheat the oven at 180C.
Place the butter and sugar in a large bowl and beat until light and fluffy. Sift in the flours and spices. Combine until a soft dough forms. Roll out the dough between two pieces of plastic film (such as Glad wrap). If you wish to imprint the top with a lace pattern, leave out the top layer of plastic and lightly dust the surface with a little extra flour before placing the doily down and rolling once to achieve the print. Cut into rectangles or any shape using a cookie cutter. Place on greased and paper lined trays. If you want to decorate the biscuits with slithered almonds, do so when the raw dough is on the tray.
Cook for 15-20 minutes.
Allow to sit for 5 minutes on the tray before moving to a wire cooling rack.

Makes about 40

My handsome Opa on the right in the 1940s

Almond Meringue Seashells

I've always wondered at those people who eat a whole block of chocolate in one sitting. I'm not judging. I've probably done it before too. After last weekend, I assure you I felt like doing just that!
I don't wonder at why anyone does it, I wonder at the flavours and the textures they are missing by eating it so rapidly. When I was a kid, sometimes we'd get treated with a couple of squares of chocolate on Sunday arvos. There are ten of us kids, so as you can imagine a block of chocolate didn't go far. We didn't care, we were satisfied with a small amount.
I remember sitting there and nibbling away at those squares like it was the last food I would ever taste, just because I appreciated the thrill of it so much.
It seriously made it taste better. You'd let it sit in your mouth long enough for it to melt, and savor it, before taking another cm bite of chocolate to repeat the blissful sensation. You experience different levels of flavour and texture that way, and I often think these levels of appreciation are missed when people robotically eat something. I'd probably have missed it all together if I'd been dealt out two rows of chocolate as a treat instead of two squares.
So when you bite into these Almond Meringue Shells, fully experience the layers of flavours and textures in your mouth. It takes it to a new level!
There's that great and delicate crunch with the toasted almond, then a crisp shell of meringue before the softer spongier layer, and then a hit creamy of vanilla. It's truly a delight to eat your food slowly. Unless you're a toddler, and then I just want you to hurry up. One hour is too long to chew a spoonful. Seriously, my son may look like his father, but he takes after me.

ALMOND MERINGUE SEASHELLS (A Lick the Spoon Original)

2 egg whites
1/2 cup caster sugar
1/4 cup slithered almonds
1 cup icing sugar
1 tsp vanilla essence
dash of water

Preheat oven to 150C. Line two trays with baking paper.
Beat the egg whites on the highest setting until they form stiff peaks. Gradually add the sugar, beating well in between, until sugar dissolves,  and the mixture is thick, smooth and glossy. Pipe meringue mixture onto the baking sheets, in small round disc shapes (about the size of the circle made when you join your thumb and pointer together). Sprinkle the tops with the slithered almonds. Bake for one hour, alternating the trays at the end of the first half hour. Cool with the oven door slightly ajar.
To make the icing, in a small bowl combine the icing sugar and vanilla. Add a very small amount of water at a time, stirring the mixture until a thick frosting forms. Pair the meringues together with this icing in between. Store in an airtight container.