I don’t care much about fancy gifts for Mother’s Day. I really, really look forward to the cute handmade gifts that my children have made me at school or church. It is so sweet – especially when they run into their bedrooms after school to hide their special presents from me until the big day! This year I got lovely pasta necklaces, a collage, a masterpiece on a canvas, some delicious homemade biscuits and more.
The biscuits came with a copy of the recipe so that the kids could make them with me. So last Monday we got cooking and made a big batch for the week.
These are really yummy. I decided to sandwich them together with homemade raspberry jam – yum! We left some plain with only icing and no jam too. We wanted them bite-sized so used the little measuring cup that you get with kids panadol as the cutter. It was the perfect size, especially for the kids.
Kiss & Cuddle Biscuits
250g butter 1 cup icing sugar 1 egg 1 tsp vanilla essence 1 cup SR flour 2 cups plain flour
Cream the butter and icing sugar together. Add the egg and vanilla and beat well. Add the flours and mix until a firm dough forms. Roll out to 5mm thick (I like to do this between two sheets of baking paper). Cut into shapes using cookie cutters. Place on baking paper-lined trays and bake in 180 degree celsius oven until lightly golden. When cool, ice with icing and sprinkles. Sandwich together with raspberry jam, if desired.
This recipe was from my sister (who got it from her friend, but it originated here, apparently). It makes a truck-load of cookies. And you don’t have to use your Thermomix for it, but I thought it would be handy to convert it over and give Thermomix instructions for you TM lovers out there. The finished mixture is WAY too much to fit in the Thermomix, so you’ll need a massive bowl and strong muscles to mix everything together at the end, but the Thermomix does make light work of all of the grinding, creaming and beating.
These are my new favourite chocolate chip cookies. I have to leave the whole nuts out so that the kids will eat them, and they love them too. The best part is that I manage to squeeze a few healthier options (nuts, oats) into them and they are non the wiser.
Usually I’ll make up the mixture and bake a couple of trays then freeze the rest of the mixture in balls to bake later. I always bag them in lots of 15 because that’s how many biscuits I can fit on one tray. Great for quickly baking when I need something for school lunches or to give to a friend or take somewhere last minute.
The recipe does indeed make a gazillion cookies – About 120, depending on how big you make the balls. I did have a whole heap of lovely, step-by-step instructions photographs to use in this blog post but accidentally deleted them from my camera (argh!)so you’ll just have to use your imagination!!
A Gazillion Chocolate Chip Cookies
490g rolled oats 200g dark chocolate 170g almonds 250g nuts (peanuts or cashews) 480g butter 220g raw sugar 230g brown sugar 4 eggs 2 tsp vanilla 600g plain flour 1 tsp salt 2 tsp baking powder 1 tsp bicarb soda 500g chocolate chips (milk, white or dark – or combination) 2 cups pecans (or other nuts) chopped
Place oats in Thermomix bowl. Process into powder on speed 9 for 10 seconds. Pour into big mixing bowl. Place 200g dark chocolate into Thermomix bowl. Grate on speed 7 for 4 seconds. Pour into big mixing bowl. Place almonds into Thermomix bowl. Grind on speed 9 for 10 seconds. Pour into big mixing bowl. Place 250g nuts into Thermomix bowl. Make into butter by processing on speed 7 for 10-20 seconds. Leave in bowl. Add butter, raw sugar and brown sugar to Thermomix bowl. Cream together on speed 5 for 2 minutes, using spatula to incorporate. Add eggs and vanilla. Mix together on speed 5 for 30 seconds. Add plain flour, salt, baking powder, bicarb soda, chocolate chips and nuts to big mixing bowl. Mix dry ingredients together using a large spoon or spatula. Pour creamed mixture from the Thermomix into the big mixing bowl. Mix into dry ingredients using a large spoon or spatula. Continue mixing until everything is well combined.
To bake cookies: Drop tablespoonfuls of mixture onto baking-paper lined trays. Allow room for spreading. Bake in 180 degree celsius oven for 8-10 minutes.
To freeze mixture: Drop tablespoonfuls of mixture onto baking-paper lined trays. Fill tray, making sure that balls don’t touch. Place in freezer for half an hour. Remove and place balls into snap-lock bags. Store in freezer.
To bake frozen mixture: Take frozen balls from freezer and place onto baking-paper lined trays. Allow room for spreading and sit at room temperature for 15 minutes. Bake in 180 degree celsius oven for 8-10 minutes.
A lovely friend shared this recipe with me on our last trip to Melbourne. I can’t believe I’ve waited so long to try it out – it was scrummy! And super quick and easy to whip up too. A great crowd pleaser…even the kids were coming back for seconds!
(If you’re making it without a thermo, just use a food processor to make the pastry and melt the ganache over the stove or in the microwave – simple!)
White Chocolate & Raspberry Tart
Rich Shortcrust Pastry: 225g plain flour 1/4 tsp salt 1 Tbs sugar 125g butter 1 egg yolk 2 Tbs water 1/4 tsp lemon juice
Ganache Filling: 360g white chocolate 190g cream + 450g frozen raspberries (or you can use fresh)
To make Pastry: Place flour, salt, sugar and butter into Thermomix. Process on speed 6 for 10 seconds until mixture resembles fine bread crumbs. Add egg yolk, water and lemon juice. Knead on interval speed for 40-60 seconds or until mixture forms a ball. Remove pastry from Thermomix, shape into a flat disc, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 10 minutes. Roll dough out on a lightly floured surface. Grease a loose-based flan or tart tin. Line base and sides of tin with pastry. Prick pastry with a fork, place a sheet of baking paper into the pastry case and top with dried beans or rice (I use dried chick peas). Bake in moderate oven for 12 minutes. Remove beans and baking paper and bake for a further 10 minutes. Allow to cool.
To make Ganache: Place white chocolate and cream into clean Thermomix bowl. Melt together on 50 degrees, speed 2 for 5 minutes. Pour ganache into pastry case and refrigerate overnight or until cold and set. (It will not go totally hard, you should be able to make an indent with your fingertip.)
An hour or two before serving, top tart with frozen raspberries to allow time for them to defrost.
And you’re done! A super easy dessert that’s sure to impress 🙂
We celebrated Cade’s 22nd birthday yesterday…his first one at home after being on a mission for two years. Hamburgers with the lot for dinner followed by a choc-malt cake covered with malteasers.
Cade tells us that Japanese sweets/desserts taste like they have no sugar in them (think: sweetish wholemeal bread), but after Easter back at home he is becoming more accustomed to the Western sugar hit again!
Cake was followed by giving Mum a crash course introduction to One Direction. Of course, my Dad is a massive fan. As are the rest of us, although some of us find it a little hard to own up to. I proudly admit to listening to their album at least once a day and bopping around with the kiddos. In fact, they are fast becoming the requested tunes in the house!
Onto the cake. Yum. Moist. Very sweet and very big though so make it when you’ve got a crowd to feed though or you’ll be left with a big lump of cake to take care of yourself.
Choc-Malt Cake
2 1/4 cups plain flour
1 1/4 cups sugar
3/4 cup cocoa
1 1/2 tsp bicarb soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup milk
1 cup malted milk powder
1 cup vegetable oil
3 eggs
1 cup sour cream
1 tsp vanilla
Preheat oven to 180 degrees celsius. Grease and line two cake pans.
Combine flour, sugar, cocoa, bicarb, baking powder and salt in a large bowl.
In a small bow, combine milk and malted milk powder, stirring to dissolve.
Add milk mixture, oil and eggs to flour mixture, beating at medium speed until smooth.
Add sour cream and vanilla, beating until just combined.
Divide batter between prepared pans and bake for 30-40 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean when inserted.
Cool in pans for 10 minutes, then remove to cool completely on wire racks.
Mix 1/2 cup malted milk powder into your favourite chocolate icing and spread between the two cakes and on top and sides of cake. Decorate with malteasers.
Fancy a bit of teacake anyone? We have an abundance of apples from a friend’s tree at the moment and are looking forward to enjoying lots of apple delights…stewed with icecream, fruit leather, mufins…
This teacake gets a big thumbs up. So moist and yummy. Great for afternoon tea or even dessert. You can mix the fruit up too…I think adding raspberries or blueberries would go down well, so would some fresh or canned peaches.
Apple Custard Teacake
For Cake: 150g butter 3/4 cup sugar 1 tsp vanilla 2 eggs 2 1/2 cups self-raising flour 1 1/2 cups milk 3 apples, peeled cored and cut into 1cm pieces 1/3 cup coconut 1/4 cup raw sugar 300ml custard (ingredients and recipe below)
To make the custard: Place all ingredients in a small saucepan. Cook, stirring over medium heat until boiled and thickened. Set aside to cool slightly. (I put it all in the Thermomix and cook on 100 degrees for 5 minutes on speed 4.)
To make the cake: Heat oven to 160 degrees celsius. Grease and line a 20cm square cake tin. Cream together butter, sugar and vanilla until light and fluffy. Add egg, beat until well combined. Add flour and milk, fold in using a wooden spoon. Spread half the cake mixture into prepared tin. Arrange 2 of the cut apples over the top. Sprinkle with coconut. Pour custard over. Spread rest of the cake mixture over the top. Sprinkle over remaining apple and raw sugar. Cook for 1 hour and 20 minutes or until cooked through.
