Confetti Biscuits

I love to bring a home made treat when I take the girls on a play date - and these Confetti biscuits are incredibly easy, cute and delicious too. Definitely give them a try if you are looking for a quick and easy biccy to make.

Confetti Biscuits
175g unsalted butter, chilled and chopped
2/3 cup caster sugar
2 cups plain flour
1 egg
2 tsp vanilla extract
180g white chocolate, melted
190g 100's and 1000's, to decorate

1. Process the butter, sugar and flour until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Add egg and extract. Process until mixture comes together. 
2. Turn dough onto a lightly floured surface. Knead gently. Divide mixture into 2 halves. Shape into 2 discs. Wrap both portions in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
3. Preheat oven to 170 C. Line 2 large baking trays with baking paper.
4. Roll dough between 2 sheets of baking paper until 5mm thick. Then cut shapes, re-roll and cut scraps. Place the shapes 2cm apart on the trays and cook for 8 - 10 minutes, or until biscuits are golden and firm to the touch. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.
5. Spread the tops of the biscuits with chocolate, then sprinkle with 100's and 1000's and set aside for 1 hour to cool.

20 Sweets in 20 Weeks - #9: Slice and Bake M&M Cookies

I couldn't believe it when we had a draw with last week's poll - 12 votes for glazed lemon and 12 votes for M&M's. I had to make the executive decision and since I am trying to lose weight I decided that I should make the ones that Zoe was more likely to want for her morning tea, in the hopes that would stop me from eating them all. And so I decided upon M&M's - and just as a side note they are named M&M's after the initials of the owners of the recipe/company Forrest Mars Sr. and R. Bruce Murrie. So there you go.

Now on to the cookies. These were really easy to make, the dough took about 5 minutes to put together and then I just left it in the fridge overnight, sliced it up the next day, baked and voila! Done. Unfortunately though I am not a huge fan of these - I don't mind the taste so much, I mean who can say no to M&M's. But the texture of these cookies I am not a fan of. I don't really know how to describe it other than a bit chalky - if that makes any sense at all. Zoe seems to like them though - so I guess that is the most important thing. Oh, and I also discovered that a very small handful of M&M's is a good way to make a toddler very happy and busy for quite some time. So without further ado, the recipe...

 

Slice and Bake M&M Cookies (from The Australian Women's Weekly - Cookies)
Makes 48

250g unsalted butter, softened
200g icing sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
300g plain flour
75g rice flour
50g corn flour
70g mini M&M's (I used 150g of normal size M&M's instead)
2 tbsp milk

1. Beat butter, sifted icing sugar and extract in small bowl with electric mixer until light and fluffy. Transfer to large bowl; stir in sifted flours and M&M's, in two batches, then milk.
2. Divide mixture in half. Knead each half on floured surface until smooth, then roll each half into 25cm logs. Wrap each log in baking paper; refrigerate about 1 hour or until firm (I left mine overnight).
3. Preheat oven to 160C. Grease oven trays; line with baking paper.
4. Cut the logs into 1cm slices; place about 3cm apart on oven trays. Bake about 20 minutes. Cool on wire racks.

 Cookie dough all wrapped up.

Pretty M&M colours in the cookie dough.

Sliced cookie dough waiting to be baked.

The end result - M&M cookies.

Rock Cakes

Zoe and I decided to do some baking again this morning, what a great way to spend a frosty winter morning. So I had to go by what I had available in the pantry today as my groceries don't arrive until Monday (that means those chewy chocolate cookies won't be baked until next Tuesday - stay tuned). Luckily we had all the ingredients that you need to bake some rock cakes - a classic baked good that is easy to make, good for the kiddies as they aren't too sweet and good for the parents with a nice cup of tea. So without further ado...


Rock Cakes (from The Australian Women's Weekly Basic Cookbook)
Makes about 15

2 cups self-raising flour
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/3 cup caster sugar
90g butter, chopped
1 cup sultanas
2 tbsp mixed peel
1 egg, lightly beaten
1/3 cup milk

1. Sift flour, cinnamon and sugar into a medium bowl, add butter, rub in with finger tips. Stir in fruit and peel with a wooden spoon.
2. Make well in centre of dry ingredients, add egg, then enough milk to give a moist but still firm consistency. If mixture is too soft, cakes will spread too much during the cooking time.
3. Place 2 heaped tablespoons of mixture onto lightly greased oven trays. Leave about 5cm between each cake to allow them to spread slightly.
4. Sprinkle cakes with a little extra sugar if desired. Bake in moderately hot oven for about 15 minutes or until lightly browned. Use metal spatula to loosen cakes on trays; cool on trays.
   

On the tenth day of Christmas (Christmas Wreaths)

Okay I did it again, I used another Better Homes and Gardens recipe, and guess what - it worked! I was so excited when this recipe just worked for me until it came to tasting the end result. Bland, bland and blander. There is absolutely nothing of interest with these cookies. They were going to be used as Christmas presents, but currently they are sitting in my rubbish bin with a whole heap of day old cat food on top of them - not so yummy.

So that is it - I am done with Better Homes and Gardens recipes! To be honest I can't believe it took me this long.

Let us hope that the next two (and final two) baking days of Christmas are more successful!


Christmas Wreaths (from Better Homes and Gardens - December 2007)
Makes 16

2 3/4 cups plain flour
3/4 cup icing sugar
125g unsalted butter, chilled, chopped
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 tsp vanilla extract
Extra flour, for kneading
Extra 1 cup icing sugar, sifted
1 tsp vanilla extract
About 1 tbsp hot water

1. Preheat oven to 160C. Line 2 trays with baking paper.
   
2. Put the flour and icing sugar in a food processor and process for 30 seconds. Add the butter and process until mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. Add the eggs and vanilla and process until the mixture forms into a ball.
3. Gently knead dough on a lightly floured surface until smooth. Divide dough into 16 pieces. Divide each portion in half and roll each half into a 16cm long sausage shape. Twist the 2 sausages together and form into a circle shape. Press the edges together, forming a wreath. Put the wreath onto the prepared oven tray. Repeat with remaining portions of dough.
4. Bake wreaths for 15-20 minutes or until firm to the touch and cooked underneath. Stand tray on a wire rack until biscuits are cool.
   
5. Put extra icing sugar in a mixing bowl, make a well in the centre, add the vanilla and stir in enough water until a thin mixture is formed. Put biscuits in a single layer on a wire rack over a sheet of baking paper or a tray. Spoon a little of the icing over each biscuit. Leave for 30 minutes or until the icing is firm.
   

Rating?
1 out of 5 reindeers!

On the third day of Christmas (Iced Lemon Cookies)

There is only 29 days left until Christmas! Can you believe it? So what are your plans this year?

I plan to put up the Christmas tree and decorations on the 1st of December. I am also making some Christmas stockings for everyone in the family - even the cats. We will be having Christmas lunch with my mother and sister at our place, with simple food and of course dessert. The gifts this year are going to be simple - homemade gifts baked with love, some new toys for the little one and some other small bits and bobs.

Enough about that. Lets talk about these Iced Lemon Cookies. I had trouble with these cookies - again the dough would not come together so I had to slightly alter the recipe. Then came the royal icing piping. Well you'll see how that turned out. And finally the cookies were just a bit bleh - not very lemony and not that sweet. So not my favourite, I probably won't make them again.


Iced Lemon Cookies (from Better Homes and Gardens - December 2007)
Makes 30 small cookies (or 16 large cookies)

2 cups plain flour
1/2 cup almond meal
1/2 cup caster sugar
pinch of salt
125g butter, chilled, chopped
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 tsp lemon essence
extra flour, for kneading

1. Put flour, almond meal, sugar and salt in a food processor and process for 30 seconds. Add butter and process until mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. Add egg and lemon essence and process until mixture forms into a ball (I needed to add another half an egg before my dough would come together).
2. Knead dough on a lightly floured surface until smooth. Pat dough into a disc, put into a plastic bag and refrigerate for 1 hour.
3. Preheat oven to 160C. Line 2 oven trays with baking paper. Roll out dough between 2 sheets of baking paper until 5mm thick. Use a Christmas cutter to cut out shapes. Put shapes on oven trays. Bake for 12 minutes or until cooked through. Leave on trays for 5 minutes and then transfer to a wire rack to cool.
4. Ice with royal icing (recipe below).
   

Royal Icing (if you don't trust raw egg whites you could use this recipe instead)

2 egg whites
4 cups icing sugar, sifted
1 tsp lemon juice

1. Beat egg whites until frothy.
2. Add icing sugar a little at a time until you have stiff peaks.
3. Beat in the lemon juice.
   

When I started to ice this cookies I quickly discovered that I have ZERO piping skills. And I mean zero. Look at my sorry excuse for piping...


It kind of made me angry....


And this little man was very sad about the way he was piped...


I tried to talk him out of it....


But it was too late...


Luckily the 10 second rule applies in this house and we got to eat him.


Oh well - practice makes perfect. I'll just have to make more cookies!

Rating?
2 out of 5 reindeers!

On the first day of Christmas (Jam Cookies)

A few of you asked what my next project was going to be now that my A.. B.. Cupcakes project is finally finished. Well, since it is nearly Christmas I thought why not bake some sweet Christmas treats? So my friends I present to you the...
Between now and Christmas I will post 12 Christmas recipes - including truffles, cookies, cakes and candy. It is going to be fun, and I hope you stick around for the ride!

On the first day of Christmas my true love sent to me Jam Cookies!

I thought I would start off the project with a relatively simple cookie and this Jam cookie sounded just right. Once I started making it however I ran into a few problems. First of all the dough was supposed to come together so that it could be kneaded. My dough looked like a big bunch of crumbs, so I had to alter the recipe a bit.

Then my next issue was that they were supposed to bake in 8-10 minutes, after 20 minutes I decided that the temperature must of been too low so I pumped it up and then burnt them. See the bottom of the cookies weren't too bad...


But the tops were a bit dark...


Then when you see the bottom and the top next to each other you can really notice the difference, whoops!


Luckily you dust these babies with a whole heap of icing sugar so no one needs to know just how much you over-baked them...


And also the icing sugar leaves a cool pattern on your bench top...


And everyone is more forgiving when you pile on the jam...


Even after all the issues with these cookies they were still pretty good, just like a hazelnut shortbread with jam and icing sugar to make it nice and super sweet (just the way I like it).


Jam Cookies (from Better Homes and Gardens - December 2008)
Makes about 12 biscuits

125g unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup icing sugar, sifted
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/3 cups plain flour
1/4 cup rice flour
1/3 cup hazelnuts, toasted, finely chopped
1 egg
extra flour, for kneading
1 cup plum jam (I used strawberry jam)
icing sugar for dusting

1. Preheat oven to 160C (I would try 170C if I made these again). Line 2 oven trays with baking paper.
   
2. Beat butter, sugar and vanilla extract until light and creamy.
   
3. Add flours and hazelnuts and mix until well combined (at this stage I added in a beaten egg - because my dough wouldn't come together).
4. Turn onto a lightly floured surface and knead gently.
5. Roll out dough on a lightly floured surface until 6mm thick. Using a 4cm fluted cutter (I just used a circle cutter), cut out rounds. Using a smaller fluted cutter (I used a small star cutter), cut out the centres from half the cookies. (Re-roll the centres into extra cookies if desired.)
6. Put whole cookies on 1 prepared tray and cut-out cookies on the other. Bake for 8-10 minutes or until pale golden (I would try at 170C for 10 minutes if I made these again).
7. When cooled sprinkle icing sugar over the cut-out cookies and jam over the whole cookies, then sandwich the two pieces together.
8. Best enjoyed on the day of baking or the next day.

Rating
3 out of 5 reindeers!

Baking Mondays - Ginger Nut Biscuits

Due to our trip to Mildura over the weekend I haven't had time to do our weekly grocery shop yet - so today's baked goodness had to be made from ingredients I already have in the pantry. So Ginger Nut biscuits were the go today, I got the recipe from a very old Woman's Weekly Biscuit cookbook - 100 delicious Biscuits and Slices published in 1972.

Ginger Nuts

Makes around 3 dozen (depending on how big you like them)

2 cups plain flour

1 cup castor sugar

1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda

1 tsp cinnamon

pinch salt

2 tsps ground ginger

4 oz butter

1 egg

1 tsp golden syrup

Sift the flour, sugar, soda, cinnamon, salt and ginger into a large bowl. Rub in the butter until the mixture is of a fine crumb consistency. Beat the egg with the golden syrup and add to the dry ingredients. Work into a firm dough with hands. Roll into small balls and put on baking trays lined with baking paper. Bake in a moderately slow oven for approximately 15 minutes or until just starting to brown.

Note: I needed to add a bit more golden syrup to get a dough to form - I just kept on adding until it came together.

So the verdict?

Me - 7/10 these are soft and chewy, but will probably get crunchier after a while. I am a big fan of baked ginger goods so I quite liked these - although perhaps not sweet enough for me.

Mat - 9/10, not too gingery and not too sweet. Big fan!

German Gingerbread

I've been meaning to buy and try these German gingerbread biscuits for a while now and I finally did yesterday. May I say that they are awesome - not too sweet, soft and chewy :). My local supermarket has a great spread of different international biscuits and cakes, so I am going to sample them whenever I have a bit of spare cash.

Now back to my episode of Fringe - Mat and I have moved our mattress into the lounge room due to the heat wave and are currently enjoying watching a few Fringe episodes.

Baking Date and Walnut Biscuits

I made these Date and Walnut biscuits today as a snack for morning tea at work - they were easy enough to make, but the final result is a not-so-sweet biscuit. Probably a good thing to not be having too much sugar - but they just taste too damn healthy! So without further ado here is the recipe for not-so-sweet date and walnut biscuits....

Not-So-Sweet Date and Walnut Biscuits

Makes about 3 dozen biscuits

120g Butter

1/2 cup Sugar

1 Egg

120g Dates, chopped

1/2 cup Walnuts, chopped

Juice of 2 lemons

2 cups Self Raising Flour, sifted

Cream the butter and sugar, add the egg and beat well. Fold the walnuts and dates into the butter mixture. Add the flour and lemon juice and stir until all the ingredients are combined. Roll heaped teaspoons of the mixture into balls and place them on lined baking trays, flatten them slightly to get a nice shape. Bake in a moderate oven for 15 minutes, or until golden.

Enjoy!!