Classic Custard Biscuits

I think if you are living in Europe and if you have BBC and you love Baking, I am sure you know about  Great British Bake Off  I am hooked to the series from the time they started couple of years ago.

And it started again with 12 candidates 3 weeks ago and every week I am watching the programme and forcing Hans to watch with me too.
And this year I thought I will make something from each series.
I have made something from the first week, but when I made these custard biscuit and shared the picture in my Instagram and Fb everyone wanted to have the recipe, so I though I better add this recipe first.

I always loved custard biscuits, even though here in Belgium they are not common, it is common in India and also in England. And every time I go to the British store or when ever I go to UK i pick up few packs of custard biscuits and bourbon biscuits.

I must say even though you can buy them  cheap, the home made ones are so  delicious, once you had home made ones I think you will never buy from shops.
I have to say mine lasted 3 days and they were good on the third day too. I don't know how they will taste after that ,if they would be still crunchy as mine didn't last that long.

When I saw this Classic Custard Biscuits in one of the many Facebook groups I am in, I knew I will be making them, and asked her were she got the recipe and she shared the link to everyone's delight in the group.

Tip:

Mine baked in 12 minutes. I didn't used the traditional square size, I used my cookie stamper.

Ingredients
200 g (7oz) plain flour, plus extra to dust
50 g (2oz) Bird's custard powder
1 tsp baking powder
75 g (3oz) caster sugar ( I used 60 gm)
125 g (4oz) unsalted butter, chilled, cut into cubes
1 medium egg
1 tbsp milk

FOR THE FILLING
Ingredients
75g (3oz) unsalted butter, softened
125g (4oz) icing sugar
2tbsp Bird's custard powder

Method :

For the biscuits, put the flour, custard powder, baking powder, sugar and butter into a food processor. Pulse until the mixture resembles fine crumbs. Alternatively, rub the butter into the flour mixture using your fingertips.
Add the egg and milk and pulse until the mixture just comes together. Tip on to a work surface, bring together with your hands, then wrap in clingfilm and chill for at least 30 min or up to 1 day.

Preheat oven to 180°C (160°C fan) mark 4. Line two baking sheets with baking parchment. Lightly flour a work surface and roll out dough until 3mm (⅛in) thick. Cut it into an even number of 3cm x 4.5 cm (1¼in x 1¾in) rectangles, re rolling trimmings as needed. If you like, mark the rectangles with a diamond and a dot in each corner.
Put rectangles on prepared sheets and bake for 13-15 min until lightly golden. Cool on the sheet for 3min, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Meanwhile, put the softened butter into a large bowl and sift over icing sugar and custard powder. Mix to combine (don't add water as it needs to be fairly thick). Set aside.
When the biscuits are cool, sandwich together with some of the filling, using a piping bag if you want a neater finish.

Gingerbread Cookies

I wanted to make a Ginger Bread House from the time Shyama gave me the cutter last New year as a present. But as you all know it is decorated with so much sugar and sweets that i would be a bit too much for just us.

So I asked Shyama if I make one would you take to her place so that she can share with all ther friends from her group.

But then she remarked I do agree to her, that it would be too dicfficult for her to take a delicate ginger bread house as she has to go by train for 2 hours and then walk 15 minutes to the place she is staying. Also when she goes back on sunday evening her luggage is filled with all her clothes , then the food I prepare for her for the week and her books, then she has her violin with her etc....

So as you can see I decided tomake ginger bread cookies as this I can put in a tupper ware and she can take with her.

So that is what I did , made them on friday decorated the same day and anyway Vera  had mentioned in her place that the cookies can be kept for long, not that it would surive that lonf with a whole bunch of college students. I am sure it will be finished in a flash with them.

The original recipe you can see here she used half rye flour and half normal flour, but I used fully normal flour. And i have written in brackets the amount of spices I used.
I could make 4 tray's of cookies, I forgot to glaze them with egg mix in the first two tray's, but I don't think that made any difference.
The cookies are really good, and this is a Keeper recipe so I am sure going to make this every year from now on and they are so easy to make too. Thankyou Vera for the recipe.

All ready for Shyama to take with her :-)


500 gm flour

2 tbsp cocoa powder (Dutch processed)

2 tsp baking soda

120 g butter (at room temperature)

170 g honey

120 g sugar ( I used 90 gm)

3 tbsp milk or buttermilk

1 egg

Spices.

3 star anise (used 1)

4 cloves

1 tsp ground cinnamon ( added a bit more)

¼ tsp ground ginger ( 1 tsp ginger)

¼ tsp fennel seeds

¼ tsp ground allspice

¼ tsp aniseed

To glaze:

1 egg yolk

1 tsp water

Icing:

1 egg white

170 g icing sugar

1 tsp lemon juice

Food color of your choice to mix with the icing when you want to decorate with colors.

Start by grinding the spices in a grinder or with a pestle and mortar. Mix the spices with both flours, soda and cocoa in a large bowl. Add the butter, sugar and honey and mix well. Add the egg and milk and mix just enough to combine everything. Wrap the dough in plastic or put it in an air-tight container and let it rest in the fridge for up to 2 days, but at least overnight. This is important for the flavours to mingle.

On the baking day:

Preheat the oven to 160 degrees Celsius.

Take the dough out of the fridge about 15 min in advance. Roll it out on a lightly floured surface to 4-5 mm thick. Cut into shapes of your choice and put them on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. The cookies do not spread much, but allow a little space between them. Mix the egg yolk with water and use the mixture to glaze the cookies.

Bake the cookies until crisp, about 10 to 12 min. Let them cool on a wire rack.

Icing:

Mix the egg white with sugar and lemon juice until smooth and shiny. If the glaze is too thin, add a little sugar. If it is too thick, add a little lemon juice. Put the icing in a small, but firm plastic bag. Cut off one corner, making a tiny opening for the glaze. Pipe your design on the cookies by applying a steady pressure on the bag.

Let the icing dry completely before putting the cookies in an air-tight container and storing them in a cool room. The cookies can be made up to 4 weeks before Christmas.
Sending this to 'Only' Cookies and Cakes event Which is hosted at Foodelicious.



Jaffa Cakes

I have noticed again and again, that I usually don't do bloghopping on weekends, sometimes I think it is unfair to the bloggers who blog on weekend ( even i do sometime post on weekends) as each monday morning when I open up my google reader and se so many blogs to read I usually delete all of them as I did today morning as I know if i have to catch up with all that blog I will have to sit in front of my computer for few hours. I know i know it is unfair, but then that is me beeing lazy and inconsiderate.

Now to the recipe, I accidently came across this blog while I was searching for Jaffa Cakes, and the moment I saw the picture in the MojeWypieki blog with these cakes I knew I was going to make, the minus point was it was in Polish and as I don't have no knowledge of the this language, I used google translator which as you all know sucks, but still I could use my little brain cells and make them.

Just that I didn't used the home made jelly method which i would have loved to do as that looked so good, but with translation dificulties I thought I will just use jam.

But have to say we loved it,I think the first day itself we ate few with our coffee, but have to say it is a tad too sweet maybe becaus I used for filling jam.

3 eggs seperated

80 gm sugar

75 gm flour

Couple of big tbsp of any kind of jam.

For the chocolate glaze

180 gm dark chocokate

one and a half tbsp of oil ( tasteless)

Beat the eggwhites,stiff, Slowly adding the sugar ( don't pout all the sugar at the same time). Add to this mix the egg yolks, blend. Slowly sprinkle the flour and foil in. Making sure you mis it all gentley.

Add the mix into a pipping bag with a thick round cap and pipe them it round size leaving space betweek each of them.

Preheat the oven to 180° c and bake the small cakes for 10 minutes.

Melt the chocolate with the oil in the MW  mix well making sure all teh chcolate is melted and leve it aside for ( the recipe said 15 minutes I cooled it for some 7 minutes)

Cool on a wire rack.

When the cakes are cooled; add a tsp of jam on top of each cake and using a tbsp pour melted chocolate one top of each cakes and leave the chocolate to hard on top.

Enjoy this sweet Jaffa Cakes.
I do have step by step ocures of the making the cakes, will add them when I finish editing the pic.



Gingerbread Men/Woman



Gingerbread dates back to the 15th century, and figural biscuit-making was practiced in the 16th century.
The first documented instance of figure-shaped gingerbread biscuits appearing was in the court of Elizabeth I of Egland.She had the gingerbread figures made and presented in the amazing likeness of some of her very important guests
Most gingerbread men share the same roughly humanoid shape, with stubby feet and no fingers.
Many gingerbread men have a face, though whether the features are indentations within the face itself or other candies stuck on with icing or chocolate varies from recipe to recipe.
Other decorations are common; hair, shirt cuffs, and shoes are sometimes applied, but by far the most popular decoration are shirt buttons, which are traditionally represented by gum drops, icing, or raisins.

Information thanks to Wiki
Every year in December I want to make Gingerbread Men/Woman but I never do something happens or I make something else and the reason for not making them just go on and on.
This year I promised myself I will make the for sure.
And as you can see i kept the promise to myself and made them.
Ok I made them and Shyama helped me to Decorate :-)
Yesterday when she went to college I send the whole lot of these cookies with her , ofcourse before packing them in a box, I took one and shared with three as I wanted to know how they tasted and they indeed taste really good.
I love the ginger taste in these cookies.
I made the mix for decorating the cookies after baking them.
Recipe is from Taste.com.au and you can find it here

Makes 20

Ingredients
Melted butter, to grease
125g butter, at room temperature
100g (1/2 cup, firmly packed) brown sugar
125ml (1/2 cup) golden syrup
1 egg, separated
375g (2 1/2 cups) plain flour
1 tbs ground ginger
1 tsp mixed spice ( I didn't have it but I had speculoos spice which I used )
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda

Plain flour, to dust
150g (1 cup) pure icing sugar, sifted
8-10 drops red liquid food colouring ( Use any color you like and I used Wilton color so i just only had to add a little bit not so much as in theoriginal recipe)
8-10 drops green liquid food colouring
Smarties, to decorate

Method

Preheat oven to 180°C. Brush 2 baking trays with melted butter to lightly grease.

Use an electric beater to beat the butter and sugar in a bowl until pale and creamy. Add the golden syrup and egg yolk and beat until combined. Stir in the flour, ginger, mixed spice and bicarbonate of soda.
Turn onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth. Press dough into a disc. Cover with plastic wrap and place in the fridge for 30 minutes to rest.

Meanwhile, place egg white in a clean, dry bowl. Use an electric beater to beat until soft peaks form. Gradually add icing sugar and beat until stiff peaks form.
Divide icing among 3 bowls. Cover 1 bowl with plastic wrap and place in the fridge. Add red colouring to 1 bowl and stir until combined.
Add green colouring to remaining bowl and stir until combined. Cover with plastic wrap and place in the fridge.

Place the dough between 2 sheets of baking paper and roll out until about 4mm thick. Use a 9cm gingerbread man cutter to cut out shapes. Place on trays about 3cm apart. Repeat with any excess dough.
Bake in oven for 10 minutes or until brown. Remove from oven. Transfer to a rack to cool.

Place prepared icings in small plastic bags. Cut a small hole in a corner of each bag. Pipe icing over gingerbread men to decorate. Finish with Smarties.

Decorated Sugar Cookies Daring Bakers September 2010

The September 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Mandy of “What the Fruitcake?!” Mandy challenged everyone to make Decorated Sugar Cookies based on recipes from Peggy Porschen and The Joy of Baking.
Of course there was a condition, we had to make a cookie decoration acording the Sepember theme.
And as it was Ganesh Chaturthi a Hindu Festival and I was seeing so much post every where
about the festival and what they made, and I got inspired to make these Elephant cookies.
Ofcourse as Shyama is going awayto college I made heart shape and then it was so fun in cutting the cookies I did buterfly etc.....
Shyama helped me to decorate a she is far more better ( I must say when it comes to drawing that girl have talent, when ever there is free time she starts painting etc) .

Basic Sugar Cookies:Makes Approximately 36x 10cm / 4" Cookies
200g / 7oz / ½ cup + 6 Tbsp Unsalted Butter, at room temperature
400g / 14oz / 3 cups + 3 Tbsp All Purpose / Plain Flour
200g / 7oz / 1 cup Caster Sugar / Superfine Sugar
1 Large Egg, lightly beaten
5ml / 1 tsp Vanilla Extract / Or seeds from 1 vanilla bean

Directions• Cream together the butter, sugar and any flavourings you’re using. Beat until just becomingcreamy in texture.• Tip: Don’t over mix otherwise you’ll incorporate too much air and the cookies will spread duringbaking, losing their shape.•
Beat in the egg until well combined, make sure to scrape down the sides of the bowl.Add the sifted flour and mix on low until a non sticky dough forms.•

Tip: I don’t have a stand mixer so I find it easier to switch to dough hooks at this stage to avoidflour flying everywhere.• Knead into a ball and divide into 2 or 3 pieces.• Roll out each portion between parchment paper to a thickness of about 5mm/1/5 inch (0.2 inch)• Refrigerate for a minimum of 30mins.•

Tip: Recipes commonly just wrap the whole ball of dough in clingwrap and then refrigerate it for anhour or overnight, but by rolling the dough between parchment, this shortens the chilling time andthen it’s also been rolled out while still soft making it easier and quicker.•

Once chilled, peel off parchment and place dough on a lightly floured surface.•
Cut out shapes with cookie cutters or a sharp knife.• Arrange shapes on parchment lined baking sheets and refrigerate for another 30mins to an hour.•

Tip: It’s very important you chill them again otherwise they’ll spread while baking.• Re-roll scraps and follow the above process until all scraps are used up.•

Preheat oven to 180°C (160°C Fan Assisted) / 350°F / Gas Mark 4.•
Bake until golden around the edges, about 8-15mins depending on the size of the cookies.• Tip: Bake same sized cookies together otherwise mixing smaller with larger cookies could result insome cookies being baked before others are done.•

Tip: Rotate baking sheets half way through baking if your oven bakes unevenly.• Leave to cool on cooling racks.• Once completely cooled, decorate as desired.•

Tip: If wrapped in tinfoil/cling wrap or kept in airtight containers in a cool place, un-decoratedcookies can last up to a month.

Royal Icing:
315g – 375g / 11oz – 13oz / 2½ - 3 cups Icing / Confectioner’s / Powdered Sugar, unsifted
2 Large Egg Whites
10ml / 2 tsp Lemon Juice
5ml / 1 tsp Almond Extract, optional

Directions
• Beat egg whites with lemon juice until combined.•

Tip: It’s important that the bowls/spoons/spatulas and beaters you use are thoroughly cleaned andgrease free.• Sift the icing sugar to remove lumps and add it to the egg whites.•

Tip: I’ve listed 2 amounts of icing sugar, the lesser amount is good for a flooding consistency, and the larger amount is for outlining, but you can add even more for a much thicker consistency good for writing. If you add too much icing sugar or would like to make a thinner consistency, add very small amounts of water, a few drops at a time, until you reach the consistency you need.•

Beat on low until combined and smooth.•

Use immediately or keep in an airtight container.• Tip: Royal Icing starts to harden as soon as it’s in contact with air so make sure to cover containers with plastic wrap while not in use.

Decorating Your Cookies:

Flooding“Flooding” a cookie is a technique used when covering a cookie with Royal Icing.1. You outline the area you want to flood which helps create a dam2.

Then fill or flood inside the area you’ve outlined

Pistachio and Ginger Biscotti

I am not a huge fan of Biscotti, I don't like that they are so hard, my sister says that is the fun in eating a biscotti you can dipp them in your tea/coffee.....but I disagree, why should you eat something so hard that you have to dipp them in your coffee to make them eatable.

Have seen lots of blogggers making them, and I tell to myself I should make them once. But the thought that it is hard puts me oof.
Untill I saw the Biscotti recipe in the New book Ottolenghi I bought.
I have been hearing almost for Six months so much good about this book from Deeba and Meeta I had to buy it.
And I have to tell you I curse my self for not buyin them early. It is filled with so much good recipes, that If there were people to eat all the food I make I would have made atleast 10 recipes in one go. But alas I can't do that as we ar ejust with three.

In the book it is written, it is not a traditional tooth-breaking Italian biscuit but a softer, frindlier version. Still it counts as biscotti because it is baked twice: once as a log and then sliced into thin biscuits.
And it just reading the above I thought why not make them and must say they taste realy good and you indeed don't break your tooth while you eat them.

While I was mixing the dough my kitchen was smelling like it was christmas time baking, with the ginger and orange etc..........

Makes 25.
80 gm unsalted butter
110 gm caster sugar
2 eggs lightly beaten
1 tsp brandy ( I added double)
grated zest of 11/2 oranges
150 gm plain flour, plus extra for dusting
1/2 tsp ground giner
1/4 tso salt
80 gm of shelled pistachio nuts
60 gm stem ginger in syrup, drained and roughly chopped.

1. Line a baking tray with baking parchment.
2. Using a electric mixer ( or good spatula and both your hands) cream the butter and sugar, together untill they lighten in colour and texture. Gradually add the eggs, beating well after each addition, stir in the brandy and orange zesrt, followed by the flour, groud giner and salt.
Lastly fold in the pistachios and ginger.
3. Lightly dust the lined baking tray with flour and spoon the mixture on to the tray. Leave to rest in the fridge for about 30 minutes so it firms up a little.
Preheat the oven to 10°c/Gas mark 3.
4. Take the dough out of the fridge and using your hands and a bitr of extra flour, form a log shape about 25 cm long.
It does not need to be perfec, as the mix will spread during baking.
Bake for 20 minutes, then remove from the oven and leave to cool.
At this point the log will be partially baked and still quiet soft. Adjust the oven temperature to 130° c/ Gas Mark 1/2.
5. Once the log has cooled down, use a serated knife to cut it across into slices 1 cm thick.
Lay them flat on the baking tray and return to the oven for about 40 minutes, untill srisp,
Rempve and leave to cook.
Store in a sealed container.

Filled Cookies with Nuts and Marzipan

Middle of last week I got my new oven and it is a convection oven.
I started baking the day itself. Each time I went to the kitchen I coudn't stop smiling , this oven is much bigger than the old one.
Next day when i went to my in laws place I told my MIL how can one just feel so good because having a new oven.
Ofcourse i do have to get used to the new oven as i found out when i baked bread this weekend they were baked in less time than my old oven.

Really the last days I have been walking aroung here at home with a huge smile , even now while writting the post I am smilling just because I have a new oven :-)

Ofcourse my daughter and hubby can't understand the joy I am feeling with my new oven. They both think I am weird for beeing so happy for something like a oven.

It is exams for my daughter so I love baking while she is learning in her room and she is my taster, the moment they come out from the oven and can be handled I take one to her for tasting.

I must say these cookies are really delicious. They are buttery and you bite into them and inside you have this filling of nuts , marzipan and redcurrant jelly all mixed together.

My New Oven

For the dough
100 gm ice very cold unsalted butter
200 gm flour
75 gm sugar
1 medium egg

a pinch of salt

Cut the cold butter into small pieces. Add them to the flour, sugar, egg and the salt in a bowl.
Mix it with the hand till it forms a ball. Don't over work it, if you do then the dough get tough.
Wrap the dough in a foil and keep in the fridge for 1 hour.

For the filling:

100 gm Walnuts chopped fine
50 gm marzipan. ( grate them fine)
50 gm red currant jam. ( you don't have to stick to this jam, i am sure you can add any taste)
18 half walnuts.

For the drizzle
50 gm dark chocolate
1 tbsp butter

Melt the chocolate together with the butter for the drizzle.

Mix in a bowl the walnuts, marzipan and the jam.
Divide the dought into 18 balls. Take a ball and shape them into a round shape ( i presses with my palm) Take a tbsp or less filling and keep them in the middle of the circle shape and then take each end and press and make a ball.
Repeat with the other balls.
Press a walnut half in the middle of each balls.
Preheat the oven to 180°C and bake them for 18 minutes.
Cool them and drizzle the chocolate and leave the chocolate to get hard.
Enjoy the cookies.I am sending this to Susan for her if you check out her place you will see what all cookies santa as got till now just go here and also do make some cookies and send her way.

Coconut,oats and chocolate chip cookies

My oven got busted last week. Actually I think It must have gone bad before that.
Me the silly one didn't figure out. I baked my bread which I usually bake and when I took them out of the oven they were not baked, it was like , well i don't think I can describe them.
That was the day when I made my few trials of the Achappam, so I thought maybe in the hurry I must have done the wrong temperature.

I even had to run to the bakers near by to buy bread otherwise I didn't had bread for that evening ( weekdasy it is bread here in the evening)

Then I made again bread few days ago and the same thing happend then I knew my oven was busted up.

Ofcourse these cookies were made before my oven disaster.
Goog news is saturday hubby and I went for oven hunting and we bought a new one and they wil bring the oven tommorow.
I must admit I was lost without my oven.
Now to the baking

When I saw these cookies in Sunita's place, I remember telling to my self I must make this

I was not disapointed, it was just so so good.
And for sure if you know sunita's cooking you know it will be filled with healthy ingridients.
Except when she is in a real indulge mood like her Mini Chocolate pots , which I saw them and ran to my kitchen and indulged myself too.
But for the most she is a well behaved girl she sticks to real healthy but yummy bakes like this one.
I followed her recipe exactly, except I add a tsp of chillie flakes as I have seen sunita often spicying up her baking and while making these cookies why not try the same.
Here at home we allo loved it, we all loved the light tingling feeling while eating these cookies.
So thankyou sunita for yet another wonderful recipe.

Want to have a go at making this super delish cookies chech out her place for the recipe

I am sending this to Susan for her if you check out her place you will see what all cookies santa as got till now just go here and also do make some cookies and send her way.

Acchapam (Rose Cookies)

I don't think I really appriciated when my mom made all the Indian sweets or some special treats.
And also I was never intrested in cooking during that time like most of you .

If I am honest when I was in my early teens I don't think I even thought aobut how much time and efffort she put into make some of the spcial food she made. Every day when we three girls came back home from school,there was something home made which she whipped up for us, which we used to hogg like piggies or on the weekend or special occasions she used to make other things which took a lot of time and work.

I remember she used to make these Achappams and not just for 1 cup of flour, i think when she made them it was mostly for a kilo of flour as I remember , they were made and kept in this huge parle biscut tins.

I am telling about how Ididn't apriciate the work she had put to make things for one reason, I tried for the first time to make Achappam few days back.

Well the first I mixed everything and tried them and whil i dipped the shape into the hot oil I saw them breaking into circles than just giving beautiful flower shape.
So I mixed a new batch tried again , no use it was a disaster again, so i searched the net and found a recipe just using flour and i tried them, well i got beautiful flowers, but then were too soggy with oil and then heavy so I binned my third batch of the day.

So I tried again the below recipe which I got form the net.

It is true they say making Achappam is like winning lottery.
I got 7 beautiful rose shaped achappams and they wee not sticking into the mould , came out perfectly, but from the 8th one it started sticking.
So i gave up .
I just think I am not that lucky in making these beautiful cookies like Mishmash or Aparna.

I am not giving up, I am sure gonna try again, but I think i will wait for a while :-)

Raw rice powder - 1 glass
Sugar - 1/4 glass
Coconut milkthick , I used tinned coconut milk. ( didn't measure just used till i got a batter like for dosa
Eggs - 1
Black seasame seeds ( i didn't have so used white)
Oil for frying

Beat the eggs well.
Mix together egg, sugar, rice powder, seasame seeds and coconut milk well.
The consistency should that of dosa batter.
Heat the oil and dip the achappam mould.
The mould should be very hot so that the achappams will come out from the mould when you dip it in the oil.
Once the mould is hot enough, dip the mould into the batter and fill it till 3/4th of the capacity.
Dip it in oil again and after half a minute, shake the mould lightly so that the achappams will come out easily. (If you shake the mould vigourously, the shape will not be maintained and there are chances of the achappams to break.)
Once slightly golden brown, turn and cook the other side.
Remove from the oil and place them on a tissue paper.
At a time, you can make 3-4 achappams or more depending upon the size of the vessel

As this is a traditional christmas cookies from kerala I am sending this to Susan for her if you want to see what all cookies santa as got till now just go here

Traditional Madeleines

This months I was paired with What's for Supper? And looking throught all her delicoius posts I came across this Madelines, which she made from Dorie Greenspan book.

I too have the book but I have never made this as I don't have a madelin pan and I thought this is a good excuse to buy one. And I am so glad that I bought the pan as these beautiful cookies/cakes were really delicous.

According to Dorie Greenspan Madelins are among the most recognizable pastries in the French repertoire because of their look.

Traditional Madeleines

Source: Dorie Greenspan, Baking: From My Home to Yours
2/3 cup all-purpose flour
¾ teaspoon baking powder
Pinch of salt
½ cup sugar
Grated zest of 1 lemon
2 large eggs, at room temperature
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
¾ stick (6 tablespoons) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
Confectioners’ sugar, for dusting

Whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt.
Working in a mixer bowl, or in a large bowl, rub the sugar and lemon zest together with your fingertips until the sugar is moist and fragrant. Add the eggs to the bowl.
Working with the whisk attachment, or with a hand mixer, beat the eggs and sugar together on medium-high speed until pale, thick and light, 2 to 3 minutes.

Beat in the vanilla. With a rubber spatula, very gently fold in the dry ingredients, followed by the melted butter. Press a piece of plastic wrap against the surface of the batter and refrigerate it for at least 3 hours, or for up to 2 days.

This long chill period will help the batter form the hump that is characteristic of madeleines. (For convenience, you can spoon the batter into the madeleine molds, cover and refrigerate, then bake the cookies directly from the fridge; see below for instructions on prepping the pans.)

GETTING READY TO BAKE:
Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Butter 12 full-size madeleine molds, or up to 36 mini madeleine molds, dust the insides with flour and tap out the excess. Or, if you have a nonstick pan (or pans), give it a light coating of vegetable cooking spray. If you have a silicone pan, no prep is needed. Place the pan(s) on a baking sheet.

Spoon the batter into the molds, filling each one almost to the top. Don’t worry about spreading the batter evenly, the oven’s heat will take care of that. Bake large madeleines for 11 to 13 minutes, and minis for 8 to 10 minutes, or until they are golden and the tops spring back when touched.
Remove the pan(s) from the oven and release the madeleines from the molds by rapping the edge of the pan against the counter. Gently pry any recalcitrant madeleines from the pan using your fingers or a butter knife. Transfer the cookies to a rack to cool to just warm or to room temperature.

If you are making minis and have more batter, bake the next batch(es), making certain that you cool, then properly prepare the pan(s) before baking.

Just before serving, dust the madeleines with confectioners’ sugar.

Storing:
Although the batter can be kept in the refrigerator for up to 2 days, the madeleines should be eaten soon after they are made. You can keep them overnight in a sealed container, but they really are better on day 1. If you must store them, wrap them airtight and freeze them; they’ll keep for up to 2 months.

Apricot and Nut Cookies for Click

It is time for this months and you can see loads of Cookie post popping up every were in the blogsphere.

Want to join up, in one of the famous monthly event in the blogsphere then click here
I must admit I don't make cookies that often, unless if I have my daughers friends comming to our place and she has been having so much school work and going for her violin lessons and concerts etc....... that she hardly have had time to ask her friends to our place.

One of her best friend who come every Tuesday after school for a hour of chit chat has not been here for few weeks, as Shyama had to go for her violin lessons, to play with the piano teacher in the music academy as she also have exams for that.
Her friend has been missing her visit here so much she asked Shyama if she can come on Thursday.
I coudn't wait till thursday for baking cookies then i would miss the deadline. As if I know If i make something It will few days for me o load the pictures to the computer.

So last sunday I made these cookies and while I finished icing them, my daughter came to the kitchen and and asked if she can decorate them. ( I wasnot planning to decorate them)

So the decoration are done by her. I left her to the decorating them and when i came back and saw the designs I told hubby i think love is in the Air after seeing her heart shaped cookies :-)

The original recipe you can get from here

This is my variation with thethings i had home.

Cookies.
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon pure almond essence
1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
1 large egg
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup dried apricots, coarsely chopped
1/4 cup almonds chopped
2 tablespoons walnuts chopped

Icing:
1 3/4 cups confectioners' sugar
5 to 7 tablespoons almond flavored liqueur (recommended: Amaretto)

Directions
For the Cookies: In a large bowl, beat the butter, sugar, vanilla, cinnamon, and salt with an electric mixer until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Beat in the egg. Stir in the flour until just blended. Mix in the apricots, almonds, and pine nuts.

Transfer the dough to a sheet of plastic wrap and shape into a log, about 12-inches long and 1 1/2-inches in diameter. Wrap the dough in the plastic and refrigerate for 2 hours.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line 2 heavy baking sheets with parchment paper.

Cut the dough log crosswise into 1/4 to 1/2 inch-thick slices. Transfer the cookies to the prepared baking sheets, spacing evenly apart. Bake until the cookies are golden around the edges, about 15 minutes. Transfer the cookies to a wire rack to cool completely before icing.
For the Icing: Place the confectioners' sugar in a medium mixing bowl. Gradually whisk in the almond flavored liqueur, until the mixture is of drizzling consistency.

Place the wire rack over a baking sheet. Using a spoon or fork, drizzle the cookies with the icing, allowing any excess icing to drip onto the baking sheet. Allow the icing to set before serving, about 30 minutes.