Sunday 5 August 2012

Baking Day

I just felt like baking some biscuits (or cookies as some of you might call them) this morning. A few new recipes and they all turned out very well so I thought I'd share the recipes here. All of them are really simple - sorry I forgot to take photos!


Custard Buttons 
125g butter, room temperature
1 cup plain flour
1/3 cup icing sugar
¼ cup custard powder
grated orange rind
icing: 1 cup icing sugar
½ tsp grated orange rind
2 tbspn orange juice

Combine buttter, flour, icing sugar and custard powder in bowl of food processor, process until mixture clings together when pressed with fingers. Roll mixture into small balls, place on lined trays, flatten slightly with fork. Bake at 170degC for about 20 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from trays, cool on wire racks. Dip tops of biscuits into icing, then sprinkle with grated orange rind.
Icing: Combine sifted icing sugar, grated orange rind and juice, beat until smooth.


Almond and Ginger Biscuits 
1 ½ cups plain flour
½ tsp carb soda
1 tsp cinnamon
3 tsp ground ginger
1 cup castor sugar
½ cup ground almonds
125g butter
1 egg
2 tsp golden syrup
¾ cup blanched almonds

Sift dry ingredients, stir in sugar and ground almonds. Rub in butter, add combined egg and golden syrup. Knead dough on lightly floured surface until smooth. Roll level teaspoonfuls of mixture into balls, place about 5cm apart on greased trays. Press a blanched almond on each biscuit to flatten slightly. Bake at 160degC about 15 minutes or until firm. Cool on racks. Makes about 50.


Almond Cinnamon Biscuits
1 ¾ cups sr flour
1 cup brown sugar
¾ cup ground almonds
125g butter melted
½ tsp vanilla
1 egg
1 tbspn castor sugar plus 2 tsp cinnamon, combined

Sift flour, stir in brown sugar and almonds. Blend in butter, egg and vanilla. Spoon teaspoonsful of mix onto lined trays. Flatten slightly and sprinkle with combined sugar and cinnamon. Bake at 180degC for 10 to 15 minutes. Alternatively, roll into small balls and press top with fork before sprinkling with cinnamon sugar.


Chocolate Fork Biscuits 
125g butter
¼ cup castor sugar
1 cup sr flour
Pinch salt
2 ½ tbspn cocoa

Cream butter and sugar until white and fluffy. Stir in sifted dry ingredients. Roll into balls the size of a walnut and place on greased baking trays. Flatten each ball with a fork dipped in water. Bake at 190degC for 10 to 12 minutes. We like them with just a few drops of peppermint essence added too.