Saturday, December 28, 2013

Biscotti

This biscotti recipe by Delia Smith is so simple, and the results marvelous. Really yummy with tea/coffee. I think it'll be delicious to incorporate some cranberries and pistachios as well next time.




Almond Biscotti
110g plain flour
3/4 t baking powder
pinch of salt
25g ground almonds
50g almonds, skins on
75g caster sugar
1 large egg, lightly beaten
a few drop of vanilla extract

1. Preheat oven to 170°C.
2. First sift the flour, baking powder, and salt into a large bowl. Then add the ground and whole almonds and sugar. Give it a good mix, then add the egg and almond extract, and mix it together first with a spoon and then using your hands to bring the mixture together to form a smooth dough.
3. Place the dough on a lightly floured surface and, using your hands, roll it into a log about 28cm long. Put on lined baking sheet and bake near the centre of oven 30 minutes. After that, transfer log to a cooling tray and leave until completely cold.
4. Reduce oven temperature to 150°C.
5. Using a serrated knife, cut the biscotti into slightly diagonal slices about 1 cm wide. Then place them back on the lined baking tray and bake for another 30 minutes until pale gold and crisp.
6. Transfer them to the cooling tray and when cold, store in an airtight container.

Friday, December 27, 2013

Melting moments

I've been as busy as an elf in the kitchen, baking up batches of cookies (often late into the night) as gifts. This christmas, I'm making 'melting moments', biscotti, and shortbread.

They are all so much fun to make, but melting moments were my favourite as I absolutely love the outcome of this recipe. It does not 'melt' as such, but is deceptively 'light' despite the amount of butter required. It tastes better after leaving it overnight in the fridge. Bossman rated it 9 out of 10 stars. I hadn't made the jam to go with it, but I think if I did, it would push it to 10 stars :p.

Here's a picture from the melting moments test run batch. 


The next day, little toddler gobbled one up in 2 seconds during afternoon tea.


Another batch, all wrapped up, and ready to go!



Melting moments by Julia Taylor (Original awesome recipe by Julia Taylor here)

Biscuits
180g unsalted butter
60g icing sugar, sifted
50g custard power
1 t baking powder
180g plain flour

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

1. Preheat oven to 180c. Line an oven tray with baking paper.
2. For biscuits, cream butter for 2 minutes 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 approx 15g (1 teaspoon), place on 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 tray 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. To assemble, pipe buttercream in a circle onto the base half of the biscuits. Gently press one of each biscuits together to form a melting moment.

Sunday, December 1, 2013

Almond Tuiles

This little recipe for almond tuiles is a keeper! It's so crispy and yummy- ALL of the crispy tuiles were gobbled up by Boss Man and toddler in 10 seconds.



(Ingredients for 18 crispy tuiles)

2 egg whites (66-70g size eggs)
50g caster sugar
1 pinch salt
40g low gluten flour
25g melted butter (microwave for 30 seconds)
100g flaked almonds

1. Using a whisk, mix egg whites, caster sugar, and salt until combined. Add flour and mix until combined. Stir in melted butter. Lightly stir in flaked almonds. Leave in fridge for 30 minutes.
2. Spread a tsp of batter thinly on a tray lined with baking paper using the back of the fork dipped in water. Ensure all almond flakes are separated and are not on top of each other.
3. Bake in 150°C preheated oven for 20 minutes, or until lightly browned.
4. Working quickly, lift the tuiles off the tray using a knife. Allow to cool and hardened.
Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...