Pistachio Rosewater Biscuits

I love these delicious and delicate biscuits, the kids not so much, isn't that a shame. They are flavoured with rosewater which gives them a wonderful smell. I love it so much I should find other recipes that use it. Hope you enjoy them too!

Pistachio Biscuits

This is a Bill Granger recipe from his book Open Kitchen

125 g shelled pistachios
125 g unsalted butter, softened
115 g (1/2 cup) caster sugar
1 egg

1 tbsp rosewater
185 g (1 1/2 cups) plain flour, sifted
1 tsp baking powder, sifted
2 tbsp plain flour, extra

Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F/Gas 4). Place the pistachios in a small bowl, cover with water and set aside for 30 minutes. (It is important to soak the pistachios so you can slice through them when cutting the dough.)

Place the butter and sugar in a bowl and beat until pale and creamy. Add the egg and mix until combined. Add the rosewater, and stir until smooth.

Drain the pistachios well then add to the batter with the flour and baking powder. Fold through until a stiff dough forms.

Sift the extra flour over a clean dry surface, and knead the dough lightly for 30 seconds. Divide the dough in half and roll each into a log, roughly 5 cm (2 inches) in diameter. Wrap each log in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Remove the dough logs from the refrigerator, and slice into 5 mm rounds. Place the biscuits 2 cm apart on a baking tray lined with baking paper. Bake the biscuits for 10 to 12 minutes, or until lightly golden. Remove from the oven and leave to cool on a wire rack.

Reindeer Biscuits

I helped the kids to make these reindeer biscuits as presents for the friends at preschool and daycare, as mentioned in my last post. I used the recipe from Planning with Kids but substituted pretzels for their mint leaf antlers.

I set the kids up with all the ingredients, melted chocolate and a paint brush and both my 5 and 3 year olds were able to make these by themselves with just a little help needed attaching the pretzels securely.

I wrapped them up individually in a square of clear cellophane tied with a ribbon and a Christmas gift tag. They looked very cute even if I do say so myself!

I tried to get my kids involved in gift giving this year, as they are somehow naturally good at receiving! This was a good way to get them to spend time and effort on something for others without just going to the shops and spending money.

Reindeer Biscuits

mint slice biscuits
jaffas
cashous (silver or coloured balls)
mini pretzels
cooking chocolate, melted
small clean paint brush

Use the paint brush to apply melted chocolate on the biscuit in the location of the nose, eyes and antlers. You need quite a big blob of chocolate for the antlers.

Stick on the jaffas, cashous and pretzels. The kids should be able to do this themselves then Mum can just push everything on a little more firmly afterwards.

Leave to set then wrap up to give away!

Left-over Cereal Chocolate Slice and Triple Chocolate Cookies

I haven't had much energy for blogging lately. Only 5 weeks to go til the baby is due and I am definitely nesting - the inside of my fridge has never looked so clean. So that and organising a bathroom renovations seems to zap all my time.

I have also been trying to have a clean up of my recipe collection. I have accumulated 3 years worth of Good Livings (from the Sydney Morning Herald) so have had a lovely time going through them cutting out recipes - of course I can't just throw them out. I need to do the same with 3 years worth of Gourmet Traveller Magazines!

I have been browsing blogs lately for baking ideas. I like having something home-baked to send in lunchboxes (and for me to snack on!). It has to be nut-free to send to preschool of course, but sometimes I make a nutty item later in the week or just for me!

I found the slice recipe on Cate Can Cook and it was perfect for this week when we finished the packet of weetbix. There was exactly 1 C of crumbs in the bottom of the pack. Usually these go to the chickens but this is a better use!

This recipe has been around for years. I found a few variations on my search. I added an egg to Cate's recipe as my mix was dry. The result was a yummy soft chewy cakey slice with a thick layer of chocolate icing - whats not to like? I sprinkled mine with Hundreds and Thousands which the kids liked!

I also baked a batch of triple chocolate cookies for my husband to take skiing. These were chosen with his chocolatey tastes in mind but I must admit I enjoyed them a lot!

The camera cord is missing so photos will come later!

Here are a few other recipes I have in mind to bake:

Puffed-Rice Slice with Peanut Butter and Chocolate @ Mathilda's Market Blog
Oaty Chocolate Caramel Rice Bubble Bars @ Cate Can Cook
Chocolate Chip Shortbread @ Cate Can Cook
Brown Sugar Shortbread @ Not Quite Nigella
Afghan Cookies @ Not Quite Nigella
Jelly Slice @ Pod and Three Peas
Banana Sour Cream Cake @ Pod and Three Peas (bananas are supposed to get cheaper soon!)
Chocolate Crackle Top Biscuits @ Taste
Fresh Strawberry Cake @ All Recipes
Pear, Date and Hazelnut Cake @ Bill Granger in the SMH

Left-over Cereal Chocolate Weetbix or Cornflake Slice
1 cup self raising flour
1 cup crushed weetbix or corn flakes
1 dessertspoon cocoa powder
1 cup brown sugar (firmly packed)
3/4 coconut (dessicated or shredded)
125g butter, melted
1 egg

Preheat oven to 180 C.

Mix all ingredients in a large bowl. Press mixture into a slice/lamington tin. Bake in oven (180C) for 10 minutes.

Remove from oven - allow to cool slightly. Smooth the chocolate icing onto slice. Sprinkle with hundreds and thousands or coconut and leave to set.

Chocolate Icing
1 C icing sugar
2 tbsp cocoa
1/4 tsp vanilla essence
20g butter, melted
1 tbsp milk (plus extra if needed), warmed
Hundreds and Thousands or Coconut, to sprinkle

Place the icing sugar, cocoa, vanilla, and butter in a bowl. Mix together, then add 1 tablespoon of milk, adding more if necessary to form a smooth paste.

Triple Chocolate Cookies
makes 30 - 40
This is a large batch of cookies, you can halve it or you can freeze uncooked dough in balls or logs to bake later.

250g unsalted butter, softened
350g soft brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 eggs, lightly beaten
310g (2½C) cups plain flour
60g (½) C cocoa powder
2 tsp baking powder
a pinch of salt
250 - 350g dark and white chocolate, chopped or chocolate bits (The original recipe had 350g, I thought this was a lot so reduced to 250g. I used 100g chopped white chocolate and 150g dark chocolate.

Preheat the oven to 180 C.

Place the butter and sugar in a bowl, and beat until light and creamy. Add the vanilla and eggs and stir together well.

Sift in the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt and mix until just combined. Fold in the chocolate.

Place large spoonfuls of cookie mixture on a greased and lined baking tray, allowing room for spreading. Cook in batches for 15-20 minutes, until the bases are cooked. Allow to cool on the tray.

Chocolate, Almond and Currant Cookies

I made Chocolate, Walnut and Currant Cookies from the Pod and Three Peas blog the other day with the kids. I thought these would be a good snack cookie for the kids - fruit, nuts and oats to make them "healthy" and chocolate to make them appealing. But the results were even better - they were flat and chewy with a slightly caramel flavour - reminding me a bit of a chewy florentine. I think I ate more than the kids! I used flaked almonds and chocolate chips with the currants.

Favourite biscuit recipes

This is my favourite choc chip cookie recipe ever and the first one I ever made, from an old Women's Weekly cookbook. I made a double batch of these with the kids last week; all those little hands do helping with rolling the biscuits out.

And while on the topic of biscuits, here is my other favourite recipe, Cranberry and White Chocolate Biscuits, which have oats in them making them deliciously chewy. Mmmm, I feel like making and eating them now.

I tried a new biscuit recipe the other day, Fig Swirls, which looked great but were a bit disappointing. I have memories of making a biscuit with figs in the centre that were really delicious, but no idea what recipe this was. Will stick with the old favouites for a while.
Chocolate Chip Cookies
makes about 45
I think these cookies taste best when they are only lightly cooked, so they are chewy, soft in the middle and not too crunchy.

125 g butter
½ C sugar
½ C brown sugar
½ tsp vanilla extract
1 egg
1 ¾ C self-raising flour (or 1 ¾ C plain flour plus 3 ½ tsp baking powder)
½ tsp salt
125 g chocolate chips or pieces
60g walnuts, chopped

Preheat the oven to 180C, cover two baking trays in baking paper.

Cream the butter, sugars and vanilla in an electric mixer. Add lightly beaten egg gradually, beating well after each addition. Mix in flour and salt. Add chocolate and nuts and mix well.

Shape teaspoonfuls of mixture into small balls, place on trays, allowing room for spreading. Bake at 180C for 10 – 12 minutes until lightly golden.

Women’s Weekly The Big Book of Beautiful Biscuits

Cranberry and White Chocolate Biscuits
makes about 18

150g unsalted butter, softened
¾ cup firmly packed brown sugar
1 egg, lightly beaten
2 tsp vanilla extract
125g (1 cup) plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
A pinch of salt
2 cups rolled oats
1 cup white chocolate chunks
²/³ cup sweetened dried cranberries

Preheat oven to 180C, line 3 baking trays with baking paper.

Cream the butter and sugar together until pale and creamy. Add the egg and vanilla and beat until smooth. Sift the flour, baking powder and salt together and stir until combined. Add the oats, chocolate and cranberries and stir to combine.

Roll tablespoons of the mixture and place on baking trays. Flatten the balls with a fork dipped in flour. Bake for 12-15 minutes or until pale golden.

Remove from oven and cool on trays for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

Recipe by Bill Granger published in the SMH

My daughter wants to write her name
molly