CRANBERRIES SHORTBREAD

Cranberries Shortbread ~ another great recipe to share with you all. Simple in ingredients and easy to make; and most of all, so yummy 😄.  Love the soft crunch texture. 

Highly recommended to try this !!

CRANBERRIES SHORTBREAD

Ingredients 

200g salted butter (at room temperature)
75g icing sugar
300g plain flour/or all purpose flour (sifted)
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
80g dried cranberries (chop coarsely)
Zest from 1/2 lemon (optional)

Method

Using your hand whisk or stand mixer, cream the butter till glossy (about 5 to 6 mins).

Add in the icing sugar and whisk for about 4 to 5 mins.  The texture should be light and glossy look.

Pour in the vanilla extract. Lightly whisk it  before adding the plain flour into the mixture. Do not overmix.

Add in the dried cranberries and lemon zest. Mix till well combined with a spatula.  Divide the dough into half. 

Place the dough on your kitchen benchtop, shape the dough into long rectangular shape (you can use a plastic scraper to help or roll it into long shape.  I formed my dough into 2"x 1.5" measurement).  Wrap your rectangular dough in clingwrap and chill the dough for at least 2 hours in freezer.

Preheat oven at 160°C.   Remove the frozen dough and using your sharp knife,  slice it about 0.5cm to 0.7cm thickness.  

Place the sliced cookies on your lined baking pan and bake for about 12 to 15 minutes till the edges are slightly golden brown.

Allow to cool on wire rack before storing in an airtight containers.

Note:

* you dont need to thaw the dough to soften to slice it.

*  the rolled up dough can be kept in the freezer up to 3 months so you can bake it anytime you want. 

* you can substitute to use raisins or dried blueberries instead dried cranberries

CHOCOLATE ALMOND COOKIES

Christmas is nearing and Im sure those celebrating Christmas celebration is planning for their coming dinner dishes meals, cookies and exchanging gifts.

Today, I would like to share this yummy Chocolate Almond Cookies.  So soft and melt in the mouth, it is definitely a keeper's! 

CHOCOLATE ALMOND COOKIES

Recipe sourced from Minty's Kitchen with slight changes

Ingredients

250g butter (at room temperature)
125g icing sugar
350g plain flour
30g cocoa powder
60g cornflour
150g almond flakes
1 egg
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Method 

Beat the butter for about 5 mins then add in the icing sugar  and beat until light and fluffy.

Add in egg and vanilla extract, beat the mixture till all combined.

Sift the flour, cocoa powder and cornflour together and fold into the butter mixture.  Then add in the almond flakes and combine to form into a dough.

Divide the dough into two and shape into square logs (about 1.5" x 2").  Wrap the square logs with clingwrap and chill in the fridge for about 30 mins or an hour.  (Or you can put in the freezer for about 15mins)

Cut the logs into slices (about 0.8cm thickness)  and bake in a preheated oven of 175 deg C for about 20 minutes.

Cool the cookies on a wire rack and store them in an air-tight container.

Almond Biscotti (Delia Smith)

Have you tried baking Biscotti before?  I love biscotti especially with lots of almonds inside.  
Biscotti is used to describe as a long, dry, hard,  twice-baked cookie with a curved top and flat bottom meant for dunking into coffee or wine.  The traditional biscotti recipe uses no form of yeast or fat (butter, oil, milk) as I have read. 

I have baked biscotti years ago (here ~ Almond Biscotti), and in fact that recipe I have tried for a few times just because I wanted to achieve in cutting the biscotti in thin slices.  Believe me, it is no easy task cutting into that thinly slices. 

I wanted to bake that recipe again for giving it as a gifts but on second thought, I should try out other recipe too.  There are tons of recipes to choose from the internet .... some uses whole egg, some with butter, some with vegetable oil, and some with egg whites. 


And while searching for a simple recipe, this recipe from Delia Smith caught my attention as ground almond was part of the ingredient.  So I have no hesitation to try this out and what is great about this is, it makes for a small portion to try out first.  

ALMOND BISCOTTI

Ingredients 
110g plain flour
3/4 tsp level baking powder
pinch of salt
25g ground almond
50g whole almonds, skin on (I added 80g)
75g golden caster sugar
1 large egg, lightly beaten
Few drops of almond extract

Method
Preheat your oven to 170°C.

Sift flour, baking powder and salt into a large bowl, then add in the ground and whole almonds and sugar. Give it a good mix, then add the egg and the almond extract, and mix it together with a wooden spoon and then using your hands to bring the mixture together to form a smooth dough.

Place the dough on a lightly floured surface and, using your hands, roll it into a log about 28cm long. Put it on the lined baking sheet and bake for 30 minutes. Transfer to a cooling tray and leave till completely cold.

Reduce the oven temperature to 150°C.
Using a serrated knife or a very sharp knife,  cut the biscotti into slightly diagonal slices about 1cm wide. Then place them back on the lined baking tray and bake for another 15 minutes on each side until pale gold and crisp. 

Transfer them to the cooling tray and when cold, store in an airtight container.

Yields about 15 pieces

Original recipe from Delia Online

                      

  I am linking this post to the Bake Along event # 72 created by Joyce of Kitchen Flavours,  Lena of Frozen Wings and Zoe of Bake for Happy Kids

 

I'm linking this post to :
Cook & Celebrate Christmas 2014 hosted by Bake For Happy Kids, Eat Your Heart Out and Domestic Goddess Wannabe.

An InLinkz Link-up

Melting Moments With Raspberries Jam & cream

Today I made another winner recipe from Masterchef Australia; Melting Moments by Julia Taylor.

I've bookmarked this recipe when Fern of To Food With Love posted her recipe in 2012 but as time passed by, I totally have forgotten about this recipe till I watched one of the episode on Masterchef on the team challenge recently.

Melting Moments with Raspberries Jam & Buttercream
Adapted from Masterchef Australia 

Biscuits
180g unsalted butter
60g icing sugar, sifted
60g custard powder
1 teaspoon baking powder
180g plain flour

Vanilla buttercream
100g butter, softened
2 teaspoons vanilla bean paste
1 cup icing sugar, sifted

Raspberry jam
250g fresh or frozen raspberries
250g caster sugar
Juice of ½ a lemon
½ teaspoon gelatine powder
Icing sugar, to serve

1 Preheat oven to 180°C. Line two oven trays with baking paper.

2 For biscuits, cream butter for two minutes in an electric mixer with paddle attachment. Add icing sugar and custard powder and mix until combined. Sift the baking powder and flour together then add to the dough and mix well. Roll dough into 40g balls, place on a baking paper lined baking tray and press each ball with a fork to leave an indent. Bake biscuits for 16-18 minutes or until light golden. Stand on trays 5 minutes to cool then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

3 For buttercream, whisk butter and vanilla until smooth. Add icing sugar and beat until mixture forms a paste, the consistency of thick icing. Spoon into a piping bag fitted with a small star nozzle.

4 For jam, place raspberries, sugar and lemon juice in a small saucepan and cook for 20-30 minutes until thickened. Mix gelatine powder with one tablespoon cold water together. Remove the jam from the heat, stir through gelatine mixture. Transfer to a heatproof bowl and cool in the fridge.

5 To assemble, place a spoonful of cooled jam on the base of half the biscuits. Pipe buttercream in a circle onto the base of the other half of the biscuits. Gently press one of each biscuit together to form a melting moment. Dust with icing sugar before serving.

You can make the raspberries jam or strawberry jam one day ahead.  If not, use the store bought jam of your choice.

This cookies really do melt in your mouth and with the buttercream and raspberries jam to go with it, all goes really well together; a sweet treat dessert for my tea break!

Garibaldi Biscuit

Have you heard of a biscuits called " squashed fly biscuits"?  Yes?  No?  What about "Garibaldi biscuits"?  No?  And what about "Raisins biscuits or sultanas biscuits" then?  Yes, right?  Raisins/Sultanas biscuits are quite common for us here and we used to eat this and commonly sold at the supermarkets.

Well, squashed fly biscuits or Garibaldi biscuits or Raisins biscuits they all are the same. This biscuit also exist under different names in other countries.

You can find more information on Garibaldi biscuits here (Wikipedia).

Garibaldi Biscuits
Recipe sourced from Emma of Poires au Chocolat

Original Recipe from Delia Online

(Makes 16)

Ingredients
110g plain flour

¼ tsp baking powder
big pinch of fine sea salt
25g unsalted butter, cold
25g caster sugar + bit extra to sprinkle
1 egg
3 tbsp milk
100g raisins
zest of ¼ lemon 

Method
Preheat the oven to 190C/375F. Line a big baking tray with baking parchment. Mix the flour, baking powder and salt together in a bowl. Chop the butter into cubes then add to the bowl and rub in. Stir in the caster sugar. In a bowl or mug whisk the egg yolk and milk together, then add to the bowl and gently mix in just until the dough comes together. Use your hand to bring it into a ball.

Dust the worktop with plenty of flour then place the mix in the middle and dust again. Roll out to a rectangle of roughly 7 x 11" or 20 x 30 cm, using more flour when needed. Tip the fruit onto one half and zest the 1/4 lemon on top. Spread the fruit out into an even layer so it covers half the dough. Fold the other half over the fruit. Check it hasn't stuck to the surface, dusting again if needed. Roll out to 7 x 11" or 20 x 30 cm again.

Trim the sides with a sharp knife so you have a clean rectangle then cut into two lengthways. Cut each strip into 8, so you have 16 small strips. Transfer to the baking sheet. Brush the tops with some of the egg white (you'll only use a small amount) then sprinkle with a little extra caster sugar. Bake for 14-16 minutes until deep golden brown. 

Cool on a wire rack.

                             These biscuits not only so good and they are so easy to make.  

 

I'm linking this post for Cook Like A Star hosted

 by Joyce of Kitchen Flavours, Zoe of Bake for Happy Kids and Mich of Piece of Cake.