Mocha Sandwich Cookies

My godmother is the most awkward person to choose gifts for, so when her birthday came round this week I decided to bake her a gift instead of buying something. I knew I wouldn't have a lot of time due to an already busy week, so I thought I'd adapt the recipe I shared for ginger pinwheel biscuits to make some cookie dough which I could prepare in advance. And as you bake from frozen, it's super easy to have a batch of freshly baked cookies ready in a flash!

Chocolate and Ginger Pinwheel Biscuits

I can't believe this is my first post of 2015, and it's been over two months since my last recipe! I needed the break though - the run-up to Christmas, and the festive period itself, was hectic and finding time to keep this up to date would have been one commitment too many I think! I've still baked a lot - mostly as Christmas gifts and desserts for big family dinners - but was so preoccupied with other things that I forgot to take any photographs of a lot of it! Doh! These cookies though, are one of the few things that I do have a badly taken photo of, so I thought I'd start here. I made these for all our neighbours, and the lovely ladies that serve me in the bank when I go for work, as a little Christmas gift, they looked super cute in little cello-bags, decorated with ribbons and bells!

Just For Two - Orange and White Chocolate Chunk Cookies

 

Sorry about the lack of recipes around here these past few weeks. James and I finally got the keys to our first house on the 31st of July and we have spent every day since at the house, replacing ceilings, moving stud walls and generally demolishing everything we wanted to change. It's been hard, and a little bit stressful, but it will all be worth it in the end. It's probably going to be another couple of weeks before we actually move in and I get a bit of time to myself again, but for now, here is a little cookie recipe.

I took yesterday evening off to watch the Great British Bake Off with my Mum, and as it was biscuit week, I adapted this recipe from No. 2 Pencil to make just two cookies that we could eat warm whilst watching it. Also, sorry for the awful photo... I was tired...

Jack Daniels Brownie Cake with Toasted Marshmallow Topping

 

This is what I created for my boss' birthday this year. A biscuit base, with a chocolate cake that's midway between sponge and brownie, topped with lots of gooey toasted marshmallows. It looks a little messy, but tastes damn good!

Wholegrain Lemon Curd Cookies

There seems to be an abundance of lemon based recipes popping up all over the place at the moment. After seeing a recipe for lemon cookies, it got me thinking - I should try making cookies with a lemon curd filling. These cookies are amazingly soft and chewy; I only had wholemeal flour, and I think that adds to their taste.
If you're not keen on lemon, try using raspberry jam or Nutella instead - this recipe is so easily adaptable!

Cardamom and Rose Water Shortbread

 

I made these yummy shortbread biscuits as Mother's day gifts - they're rich and buttery, with subtle flavours that are not-too-flowery. Perfect with an afternoon cuppa.Plus they're super easy to make!

Baked Creme Egg Cheesecake

Oh yes! A colleague posted a no-bake creme egg cheesecake recipe to my timeline last month, and so for her birthday, I thought I'd recreate my own baked version! I love the hidden 'yolk' under the chocolate layer, and it's so simple to make!

Hazelnut Caramel Bars

This bake was one of those times where I just go to the cupboard, pull out a few ingredients and see what I can make with it. No recipes to follow, just my imagination. OK, so this doesn't always work, but 9 times out of 10, it ends in something amazing. This is definitely just that! I'd go so far as to say that this is probably the best thing I have ever made up. Ever. A lovely crunchy biscuit base, topped with a hazelnut 'blondie' style sponge, studded with gooey caramel pieces. What's not to love?!

Toblerone Cookies

My sister and her boyfriend moved into their first house last week, and we've spent the majority of the weekend helping them strip wall paper, rip up carpets, clean tiles, paint walls and assemble flat pack furniture. All of which is pretty tiring work, I can tell you! So to keep us going, I baked a batch of these yummy Toblerone cookies - I doubled the recipe and ended up with about 60 cookies in the end, meaning that there was plenty left over for at home!

Creamy Coconut Cheesecake

This is the creamiest cheesecake imaginable. Fact. The flavour is subtle with different textures from the biscuit base, dessicated coconut and coconut cream. It's great served for dessert after a spicy meal.

Cheese and Bacon Biscuits

Another slight variation of these cheese biscuits - great alongside a cheeseboard with onion chutney!

Terry's Chocolate Orange and Ginger Flapjacks

 

I know that now Christmas is over, you're probably all sick of chocolate and sugary treats, but this is a good way to add a little something to any left over Christmas chocolate you have. Between us, James and I were given four Terry's Chocolate Oranges this Christmas, so I used half of one of those to make these moreish flapjacks.

Cinnamon Snaps

This recipe is a little adaptation of the gingerbread recipe I used for my house for those who don't like ginger. This made enough dough to make 11 miniature houses as well as about two dozen little stars, so it makes a lot! If you want to make houses, follow the tips at the bottom of this recipe.

Ingredients:
250g unsalted butter
125g light brown muscovado sugar
75g soft brown sugar
4tbsp golden syrup
2tbsp treacle
600g plain flour
2tsp ground cinnamon
1tsp baking powder
Royal icing sugar

Preheat your oven to 180°C and line your baking trays with greaseproof paper.  

In a pan, melt the butter, sugar, golden syrup and treacle together, stirring until its smooth. Remove from the heat and leave to cool slightly.
In a large bowl, sift together the flour, bicarbonate of soda, and cinnamon. Pour the melted butter to the flour mix and mix well, first with a spoon, then with your hands, until it forms a stiff dough. You can add a little more flour if it’s still sticky, or a little splash of milk if it’s too dry and crumbly. Knead for a couple of minutes until its smooth.  

Roll the dough out onto a lightly floured surface, to the thickness of a £1 coin.
Use a cookie cutter to cut out your shapes, re-rolling any left-overs until it's all used up.
 

Space the biscuits out on your trays and bake in the middle of the oven for 10 minutes or until golden in colour. Remove from the oven and leave to cool for a couple of minutes on the tray before moving to a wire rack to cool completely.

 

Once cool, make up the icing as per the instructions on the packet, and ice your biscuits with any design you like. Leave to set overnight before eating.

Christmas Gingerbread House

It’s only in the last few of years I’ve taken on building a gingerbread house from scratch, but now it’s something I look forward to making every Christmas. This recipe is slightly adapted from this Tesco one. The mixture needs to be a little dry, so when it cools after baking, it goes hard. If the gingerbread is too soft it won’t hold it’s weight when put together. I used the template from Tesco also, but feel free to make your own. Please note, this is a 2 or 3 day bake, and you will need a little patience when it comes to the assembly! There are also a few tips and tricks at the bottom of the recipes :)

Ingredients:

250g (8oz) unsalted butter

200g (7oz) light muscovado sugar

4 tbsp golden syrup

2 tbsp treacle

600g (1¼lb) plain flour

1 tsp bicarbonate of soda

4 tsp ground ginger

2 tsp mixed spice

Clear, boiled sweets, for the windows

500g royal icing sugar

Chocolate buttons for the roof (optional)

Chocolate wafer tubes (optional)

Preheat your oven to 180°C and measure out a few sheets of baking paper ready to fit the trays and dust with a little flour (you’ll probably have to cook all the pieces in a couple of batches).

Cut out your template ready.

In a pan, melt the butter, sugar, golden syrup and treacle together, stirring until its smooth. Remove from the heat and leave to cool slightly.
In a large bowl, sift together the flour, bicarbonate of soda, ginger and mixed spice. Pour the melted butter to the flour mix and mix well, first with a spoon, then with your hands, until it forms a stiff dough. You can add a little more flour if it’s still sticky, or a little splash of milk if it’s too dry and crumbly. Knead for a couple of minutes until its smooth.

Remember, your gingerbread needs to be a little dry so it goes hard once cooled after baking. You’ll have to use your own judgement here, but this dough will make a little more than needed for the average house, so feel free to roll, cut and bake a small test piece and see. 

Once you’re happy with the consistency of the dough, break the dough into about 4 equal pieces.
Take the first piece and roll it out onto one of your sheets of dusted baking paper, to the thickness of a £1 coin. Use your template to cut out the first few pieces of the house and remove any excess dough from the baking paper.
Repeat this until you have all your pieces cut out on baking paper sheets.
Re-roll any left-overs and use it to cut out snowmen or trees to decorate the garden, or you could make a little chimney to go on top.

Place a boiled sweet or two in each of the windows – these will melt in the oven and fill the hole.

Bake in the middle of the oven for 10 minutes or until just turning golden and the sweets have melted. Remove from the oven and leave to cool for a couple of minutes on the tray before moving to a wire rack to cool completely.

Once it’s cooled completely, stack all the pieces in an airtight tin and leave over night to firm up.

The following day, you can decorate and assemble the pieces. Obviously, you have free reign over decorations, but here’s what I did…

Make up the royal icing according to the instructions on the packet.
Pipe frames around the windows and on the door piece. While that’s setting, spread the roof pieces with a thick layer of icing and cover them in chocolate buttons.

While the roof sets, you can assemble the walls. Stick the first wall onto your cake board with a little icing, using bowls/cups/tins to hold it upright. Stick the second wall to this and the board with more icing, again using what ever you can find to prop it up. Attach the two remaining walls in this way and leave to set for about 10-15 minutes.

Cut 4 wafer tubes to the height of the walls, and stick one on each corner join.

Once the walls are set, stick on the roof pieces, again using cups to hold them in place until the icing sets. Join the two roof pieces at the top with a thick line of icing, and more wafer tubes along the length.

Use any left over icing to decorate your snowmen/trees or cover the rest of the cake board with ‘snow’.
Leave everything overnight to set properly before eating/displaying.

We’ve eaten these houses up to two weeks after they’ve been baked, so they can be made well ahead.

Here are a few tips and tricks I’ve discovered over the last couple of years:

- As I’ve mentioned already, the dough needs to be firm and a little dry.

- Make sure you do leave the gingerbread over night before assembling – you don’t want a pile of crumbs!

- Make the roof slightly thinner than the walls – once it’s covered in a layer of icing and chocolate buttons, it can get quite weighty and will take longer to stick on to the walls.

- If you are having serious issues with getting your roof to stay on try this: ice a row of sweets, like dolly mixtures, onto the underside of the roof that can act as a buffer, holding the roof in place while the rest of the icing sets.

- Try different coloured boiled sweets in the windows. If you’re using a template that has big windows, try using a gradient from yellow, through orange to red – it looks brilliant with a little led light inside.

- Most importantly, be patient and be prepared. Get your template and baking paper ready before you start making the dough, and don’t go into it hoping to bosh it out in an afternoon – it takes time!

Peanut Butter Pudsey Bears

Tonight sees the Children in Need evening take over our televisions, and millions of pounds will be raised to help young people with disabilities, struggling with poverty, or who give their lives to caring for their families all around the UK. Everyone likes to do their little bit, and today I am wearing my onsie to work and have made these Pudsey Bear biscuits to help raise a few pennies for an amazing cause.
Now, I will admit, these biscuits are better made in a more sturdy shape - round or square would be perfect. They are so light and buttery that I did find the legs and arms snapped off a few of bears when transferring them to my trays. Aside from that, they taste amazing and they do keep some of the texture of the peanut butter.

Ingredients:
120g plain flour
1/2tsp baking powder
50g caster sugar
50g unsalted butter, diced
4tbsp crunchy peanut butter

Pre-heat your oven to 160c and grease/line your baking trays.

Tip all the ingredients in a mixing bowl and then use your hands to rub the butters into the dry ingredients.
When it starts to come together into a dough, knead it around the bowl for a couple of minutes until everything is well combined.

Lightly dust your work surface with flour and roll out the dough to the thickness of a £1 coin. Use your cookie cutter to cut out your biscuits, re-rolling any off cuts until all the dough is used up.

Place your biscuits on your prepared baking trays and bake for 10-12 minutes, until golden. They will still be a little soft, but will firm as they cool.

Once firm, move to a wire rack to cool completely. You could drizzle a little chocolate over the cooked, cooled biscuits if you wanted to add a little something extra too.

Earl Grey Biscuits

 

I made these for my friend’s birthday – a crazy cat lady, who is also an avid tea drinker. They’re great for dunking, and you can substitute the Earl Grey tea leaves for any other kind of loose leaf tea too – try using different fruit teas for a more summery taste, or ginger and cinnamon for a festive twist.

Ingredients:
150g unsalted butter
115g light muscovado sugar
2tbsp Earl Grey tea leaves
1 egg
200 plain flour
Demerara sugar for sprinkling

Pre-heat your oven to 180c and grease/line your baking tray(s).

In a large mixing bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the tea leaves until well combined, then stir in the egg. Sift in the flour and fold into the mixture, first with a spoon, and then with your hands.
Bring the dough together into a ball and knead for a couple of minutes until everything is well combined.
Lightly dust your work surface with flour and roll out the dough to the thickness of a £1 coin.
Cut a cookie cutter to cut out your biscuits and transfer them to your prepared baking tray(s). Re-roll any off cuts and keep going until all the dough is used up.

Sprinkle over a little demerara sugar and bake for 10-12 minutes, until lightly browned.
Leave to cool on a wire rack, or enjoy warm from the oven.

I used a little dark chocolate to draw cat faces on these, but obviously this isn’t a necessity!

Easy Chocolate Finger Biscuits

 
I made these to go alongside the citrus squares – variety is the spice of life after all! They look so pretty and would make a great birthday/Christmas present in cute little boxes – and they’re REALLY easy to make. You can try different chocolate for dipping; milk or white chocolate would work just as well.

Ingredients:
115g plain flour
Pinch of baking powder
2tbsp cocoa powder
50g caster sugar
50g unsalted butter
3tbsp golden syrup

100g dark chocolate
Chocolate balls or strands to decorate

Pre-heat your oven to 160c and grease/line your baking tray(s).

Sift the dry ingredients together in a bowl, and then add the butter and golden syrup. Using your hands, rub the butter and syrup into the dry ingredients until it starts to form a soft dough. Knead the dough for a couple of minutes to make sure all the ingredients are well combined.

Take two sheets of baking paper and place the dough between them. Roll the dough between the sheets to a rectangular shape, about A4 size and just a couple of millimetres thick.
Trim the edges so the side of the rectangle are straight, then cut in half length ways. Cut each half into a dozen or so slices, about an inch in width and transfer them to your prepared baking tray(s). Re-roll and re-use and offcuts until all the dough is used up.

Bake for 12-15 minutes, and take them out just before they start to colour. They will still be a little soft when you take them out, so leave them on the trays to cool for a couple of minutes until they firm up. Once firm, you can move them to a wire rack to finish cooling completely.

Once the biscuits are cool, break the chocolate up into small pieces and place in a small but deep microwave safe bowl. Melt the chocolate in the microwave, heating it in 15-20 second blasts and stirring between each one, taking care not to burn it.
Dip one end of the biscuits into the melted chocolate, letting any excess drip off. Lie the biscuit on a sheet of baking paper (you can use the clean side of same pieces you used to roll out the dough) and sprinkle a few chocolate balls or strands onto the chocolate before it sets.

And there you have it - fancy looking biscuits are easier than you thought, eh?

Chocolate Gingerdead Men

 

I love Halloween - I wish the UK did Halloween as big as the US do it. I found this cookie cutter/stamp a few weeks ago, and couldn’t resist, I had to buy it to make Halloween gingerbread!

I must admit, I wasn’t that impressed with the product as a cutter or a stamp… the cutter didn’t leave nice crisp edges, and the stamp, that supposedly leaves little wells to fill with icing, served more as just guidelines for icing the skeletons freehand. You’d be better off using a metal gingerbread man cutter and then just icing the skeletons on yourself. That said, I do still think that they look pretty cool, if a little misshapen, and I made little gravestones for them too!

Ingredients:

250g unsalted butter

100g light muscovado sugar

100g demerara sugar

4 tbsp golden syrup

540g plain flour

60g cocoa powder

1 tsp bicarbonate of soda

4 tsp ground ginger

250g royal icing sugar to decorate

Preheat your oven to 180°C and grease/line your baking trays.

In a small saucepan, over a low heat, melt the butter, sugars and golden syrup. Stir until the sugar has dissolved, then remove from the heat and leave to cool for a few minutes.

In a large bowl, mix the plain flour, cocoa powder, bicarbonate of soda and ginger. Add the cooled melted butter to the flour mix and stir until it forms stiff dough.

Use your hands to shape the dough into a ball, scraping down the sides of the bowl, and knead for a couple of minutes. If it’s still sticky, add a little more flour, a tablespoon at a time, and continue to knead until it’s ‘rollable’. And if it’s too dry, add a splash of milk while you’re kneading the dough.

Lightly dust your work surface and rolling pin with flour, and roll the dough out to 5mm thick.

Use your cookie cutters to cut out your shapes, re-rolling the off cuts, until all the dough is used up.

Space the shapes out well on your baking trays and if you’re using a cookie stamp, press this into the gingerbread when they’re on the trays.

Bake in the middle of the oven for 8-10 minutes, until just firm. Leave to cool slightly on the trays before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

Once the cookies have cooled, make up your icing.

Add 40ml of luke warm water to the royal icing sugar, and use an electric whisk to beat the icing until it forms soft peaks. You can add colouring at this stage if you want to.

Transfer the icing into a piping bag and go to town with your decorating!

Once you’ve decorated all your gingerbread, leave it over night for the icing to set, then tuck in!