Chocolate Biscotti and a Big Question

 

2014: delicious.

I think we're too far into the New Year now for me to legitimately still be able to wish you and yours a happy and joyous 2014, but since my biggest resolution for this coming year was to raise hell, I feel secure throwing caution to the wind and ignoring protocol. Happy New Year, guys.

I started 2014 as I seem to start every year: feeling like death.There's something about the date December 31 that just turns me into an animal, and I don't remember a great deal other than pomegranate cosmopolitans (seasonal!), dinner and shouting at my party guests to pull up the rug because I was going to dust off my R. Kelly. TBH, I often wonder how I still have friends. I think they like the cocktails.

I thought we'd start the year with a simple recipe, but before we get to that, I want to review my resolutions from last year and make some new ones. You'll remember I wanted to:

1.  Make more time for family. I live so far away from them that they probably think I forget about them, even though I don't.
2. Be nicer to my husband. I don't want to get divorced. 
3. 'Date Night' - at least one every time I'm home. If it's good enough for Barack and Michelle...
4. Not be so obsessed about saving set amounts of my salary each month. I need to enjoy myself as well as take care of the pennies!
5. Work on the side project I've been procrastinating about for far too long now.
6. Knit myself a sweater. It is time.

How did I do? I definitely remember trying with numbers 1 and 2. 4 was amply achieved, and I did quite well with 3 as well. But 5 and 6 are failures. They need to be reinstated as 2014 Resos.

This year, I want to:

1. Work on the side project I've been procrastinating about for far too long now.
2. Finish my sweater. It is pissing me off that I can't wear all that gorgeous merino.
3. Make Twitter a part of my life. (@peterdelicious) I joined, and hate it so far. Come hang out and make me like it.
4. Raise hell. I have been too good for too long. Realistically, I probably won't be that bad. But I might swear on here a bit more.
5. Be nicer. Be positive. Be the sort of person people like. 

We'll see how we go. I must get that sweater out.

OK, I also have a question for you all to answer. In the comments. Or you could tweet me! New for 2014! Basically, shall I Re-Invent the Lamington again this year? I will not have time to follow my usual schedule running up to Australia Day, but I know that last year I got comments and a couple of emails from people who were disappointed that I didn't go in for a fourth year. So I might do it at the end of the month instead. I can do that. It's my game.

Should I once again cover my kitchen in coconut? Will you bake along?

While you think on that: chocolate biscotti.

Chocolate Biscotti

You will need:

250g plain flour
50g cocoa powder
200g granulated sugar
100g almonds
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
a pinch of salt

1. In a large bowl, stir together the flour, cocoa, sugar, salt, bicarb and nuts. I never chop them, but if you don't want chunks of almond in the biscotti, either chop them finely now, or leave them out.
2. Break in  the eggs and add the vanilla, and using your hands (keep one clean and outside the bowl, so that you have a clean hand for emergencies), mix carefully to a dough. You can add a splash of milk if everything looks dry, but it should be fine. Take your time, and mix well.
3. Form three small baguette shapes from the dough, each the width of two fingers. Put the dough baguettes on a parchment lined baking sheet.
4. Bake for 15 minutes at 190°C, then remove from the oven and slice the baguettes into biscotti. Bake the slices for another 5 minutes in the oven on the baking sheet, then turn them over and bake again on the other side for 5 minutes.
5. Cool on a wire rack. Store airtight.

Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies

Eek. Time passed.

I can only tell you this: turning thirty-one and managing not to kill myself (at what age does one need to get out the anti-ageing creams?) was quite enough of an effort over the last few weeks. I haven't had any baking inspiration since I have been far too wrapped up in feeling OLD. It is so... difficult to get over.

Pink vermouth, a great steak and the fact that I spent the evening of my birthday with my husband, who is more delicious than anything I could have baked for you today or any day anyway, are what got me through.

I no doubt will need more of the same next year.

Anyway, I made these cookies ages ago and I know there was some special reason for doing so and also that I was really pleased with them, but I can't remember what for or why. Not a great way in to this, but also perhaps just what we need to coerce ourselves into planning a little journey into baking self discovery. Quite timely too, since we haven't had a cookie around here for a while.

(I did slate chocolate in my last post though, so consider this further evidence of the fact that I blow hot and cold like nobody's business.)

I am planning on doing some baking at the weekend (in between BBQs and beach trips, should the weather hold), as well as some light ice-cream production. So there should be a fair few posts this month.

In the mean time...

Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies

You will need:

100g plain chocolate
150g plain flour 
25g cocoa powder
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda 
1/2 tsp salt 
125g softened butter 
125g sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract 
1 egg
350g chocolate (I used plain and milk, in equal measure, chopped into small chunks) 

1. Pre-heat the oven to 180°C and line a baking sheet with baking parchment.
2. Melt the 100g plain chocolate and set aside to cool a little. Then beat it with the butter, sugar, vanilla  and egg until all is nicely amalgamated (yes, this is the lazy person's cookie).
3. Add the dry ingredients and mix well, then fold in the chopped chocolate. 
4. Use an ice cream scoop (or a couple of spoons) to measure out dollops of dough and space them well apart on the baking sheet. Bake for 14 minutes although aim to underbake slightly as everybody loves a chewy cookie.
5. Cool on the sheet for five minutes then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Crumble Bar Cookies

Again, we thank Instagram (@peterdelicious) for his kindness.

Yesterday, I got bored and made a coconut genoise cake that was as light and fluffy as a little cirrus cloud, wispy, delicate, perfect. But we have made a silent promise to ourselves around these parts to stop jumping about all over the place and try to post in some sort of order. So you can wait for the Malibu soaked wonder and have bar cookies instead.

When I made the panna cotta I was scared it wouldn't be sweet enough, or to be honest that it wouldn't even set, and since I had planned it to be dessert at Brideshead Club, I knew I needed a fall back option. So I made these.

They're the kind of thing your mum would make with you when you were little. Not fancy, quite unassuming. But oh! So delicious. And the perfect use for that nectarine butter that I know you're all wondering what I've been doing with. (It's been porridge topping, as a general rule.)

You could use jam instead. Or, maybe, a little jam and a layer of fresh raspberries. Do you see what just happened there? I set you an assignment. Hop to it. Report back on Monday with both variations and I shall grade them accordingly.

Crumble Bar Cookies

You will need:

135g flour
100g sugar
70g rolled oats
115g butter
1/2 tsp baking powder
pinch salt
jam or fruit butter

1. Grease a 20cm square tin. Line it. Grease the lining. You'll want to give up at this point, I know, but persevere. Set the oven to 180°C.
2. Mix the flour, oats and baking powder together. Rub in the butter until you have a crumble mixture. Add the sugar.
3. Press 2/3 of this sandy mixture into the tin, forming a base. Bake for 20 minutes.
4. Remove from oven; top with jam or fruit butter (as much or as little as you like) and the remaining crumble. Bake for another 15 minutes.
5. Cool in the tin. Slice. Eat.
6. Makes 8 large bars. I like large. You could do 12 or 16 if you prefer.

Madeleines

Just recently, while smoking shisha in St. Germain, I reached a decision.

(Before we go any futher, let us just take a moment to be seduced by the alluringly alliterative nature of that statement. Truly, it puts me in the mood to go and order rillettes de veau in Rio De Janeiro, nibble daintily on a bowl of pilaf in Poznan and sip velveteen Merlot in Marlow.)

I wanted to make something French. Not croissants, because I value my sanity. But something exotically unfamiliar and crowd pleasing to hand round with tea after the coq au vin I was planning.

My ability to make any firm plans being weakened by the heavy scent of apple scented molasses tobacco, the idea lay dormant until I reached my kitchen at home some days later, tired, grouchy and wearing an airline uniform that had taken on the aroma of the passenger cabin of a Boeing 777-300ER.

Ultimately, it came down to the fact that I hadn't used my madeleine tray in years. And let's be realistic, it was never going to be croissants, not least because you don't eat them after coq au vin.

(As if that were the only reason.)

I am 80% pleased with how they turned out. Moist, and good flavour, but I want the hump that you get on a commercially produced madeleine. The hump, but none of the oily synthetic taste. I'm thinking I might try adding baking powder, but a friend tells me I just need to bake the batter in those little scalloped boat tins rather than a flat tray. Will I justify the expense? We shall see.

Madeleines

You will need:

30g melted butter
1 tsp vanilla
75g egg yolks (5 medium)
60g caster sugar
45g plain flour
1 tbsp water

1. Pre-heat the oven to 180°C. The madeleines will be in there for  a scant 5 minutes, so make sure it's at temperature as you don't want to leave the batter hanging around.
2. Put the vanilla, sugar and yolks into a heatproof bowl suspended over simmering water. Whisk gently until the yolks are warm to the touch. Remove from the heat and beat on high speed with an electric mixer until thick and creamy. This will take 9 or 10 minutes. You will be bored.
3. Add the water. Whisk in.
4. Sift over the flour and fold in gently. Next fold in the butter.
5. Grease your madeleine tin and fill each indentation half way with batter; bake for 5 minutes. Cool on a rack.
6. Serve dusted with icing sugar. Makes 24 2" madeleines.

Chewy Treacle Spice Cookies

 I'm not suggesting you eat this many cookies at once. Honestly.

 

I think I remember once reading an article about how Tina Turner starts every day off by chanting and that she thinks that's what keeps her (and her legs) looking young and in tip-top condition. Or maybe that's what she says in What's Love Got To Do With It. I can't be sure.

It's odd what comes to your mind while you sit waiting for your computer's anti-virus to update 'quickly' and 'hassle-free'. (Ha! Whatever. I've been here hours and am sick of restarting...)

That's a harrowing film in some parts by the way. Not Sunday afternoon viewing, that's for sure.

Anyway, the chanting. The chanting is related to today's post. Do me a favour? Repeat after me:

"My mixer is powerful. It must be used with care."

Chant it. Feel it.

It's not just Tina who needs to start the day off right. If you aren't careful, and don't keep the speed low, your stand mixer will chuck sugar all over the place when you start to make these cookies. If you're not actually using a mixer, well, you can skip the chant if you wish. You'll be just fine, although your elbows won't thank you.

It came upon me, last week, as I put together the little menu at the side over there to help visitors to this site better find what they are looking for (in the middle of a sleepless night, without the heating on - I hope someone actually uses the thing!), that we don't have enough cookie recipes around here. Keen to put this right, I'm offering these in some ways seasonal treats. They were born out of a cupboard clear out, but I am beginning to think they might be the best cookies I've ever made.

I wanted to make a treacle toffee flavoured biscuit. I missed Bonfire Night this year, and thus got no toffees. I'm not going to lie, the first week of November was as a result tinged with a certain melancholy, but I managed, luckily, to pull myself together, put on my best heels and find for myself the happiness I was seeking in the bottom of my mixing bowl.

The answer is always in baking, my people. Always.

Just treacle, though, seemed a little dull as far as flavour was concerned. I know there will be those of you who are waiting for me to say that I added chocolate to the mix, and will be upset that I didn't. But I say to thee, and not for the first time, that chocolate is over-rated; I find it difficult to get excited about.

Spice though, drives me wild. There's a moment in the making of this cookie dough (when you add the dry ingredients at the end) that scents the air so strongly with the fragrance of brown sugar, cinnamon and cloves that it is just... Indecent. I nearly passed out.

I've had these knocking around in the tin for a week now (the recipe makes around 30 cookies) and can confirm that not only do they keep very well, they actually improve with age. So I'd say you need to plan your cookie craving about three to four days in advance.

That will be all. Thank you.

Chewy Treacle Spice Cookies

You will need:


125g butter
200g granulated sugar (plus a little extra for later, around 50g will do)
120g soft dark brown sugar
2 eggs
150g treacle
250g self raising flour
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp ground cloves

1. In the bowl of a stand mixer (or just a large bowl, and use a wooden spoon - I'll award you 5 old skool cool points accordingly), put the butter and sugars. Mix on low speed until smooth. There's a lot of sugar so it won't turn creamy, but you do want everything to cohere.
2. Add the eggs and treacle; beat on medium speed for 2 minutes or until thoroughly combined.
3. Mix the dry ingredients together in a separate bowl and add them, a scoop at a time, to the treacle mixture, beating on low speed the whole time.
4. The dough will be very soft. Chill in the fridge for an hour (or overnight, or for up to three days, if you'd rather spread the process over several days) to firm slightly.
5. Pre-heat the oven to 160°C and line two baking trays with parchment. Form balls of dough about the size of a golf ball and roll in the extra granulated sugar (you could add a little cocoa to it if you wanted a gentle chocolate flavour as well as the spice); bake well spaced apart on the baking sheets for 16 minutes or until the centres are set. Cool completely on the baking trays.
6. Store airtight. Will keep for up to a week, no problem.

Re-Inventing the Lamington 2011 Day Three: Cookies and Cream Lamingtons

Until 5 seconds ago, I had another photo to put here, but I deleted it. How I hate myself.

(In which Mr. P parts company with a dear friend.)

Nothing is ever universally appreciated. Some things are not for everybody. Champagne. Opera. Incest. They all have their fans, but nobody likes them all. It is the same with dessicated coconut.

(Speaking of fans, allow me to make a little insertion here to mention the Delicious Delicious Delicious Facebook Page. I feel like I often take an age to 'moderate' comments on the blog; feel free to stop off and say hi on Facebook too. Unless you're the 'Generic Viagra' guy who keeps spamming me - we don't want those comments, thank you.)

Last year, all of my lamingtons were coconut-coated. You might say I didn't take the re-invention far enough (to which I might say 'Get Out.'). But actually, I think the coconut coating is part of what really makes a lamington a lamington. Even more than the cake or the chocolate.

However, coconut is not for everybody. *sigh* So I have attempted, this year, to use a couple of other coatings for my lams.

I present you with crushed Oreo cookies. I believe that as The Father of Lamington Re-Invention I can sanction their use here. Sure, I'm a little bit sad to deny coconut its rightful place and duty, but the prospect of a Cookies and Cream Lamington just seemed too good to turn down.

I actually got the idea for these from a really old recipe of mine from back when Delicious Delicious Delicious first started for Chocolate Peppermint Cookies and Cream Cupcakes. OK, this time there is no peppermint extract, but to a Brit like me, cookies and cream is still an exotic-sounding combination. Nothing to stop you adding a teaspoon of peppermint extract to the frosting either.

Enough talking though: let's cut to the chase (I'm really annoyed that I deleted that photograph!). These were delicious. You don't even need to bother with the cake, just make a bowl of the frosting and spread it on to some Oreos. Perfection. Though perhaps the sort of perfection that can lead to this.

Crikey.

Cookies and Cream Lamingtons

You will need:

For the cake -

Half a recipe of this yellow cake

For the frosting -

125g soft unsalted butter
200g full fat cream cheese
400g icing sugar

To coat -

1 package of Oreo cookies, crushed

1. Bake, cool, and slice the cake into cubes. For ease, make a full recipe, and freeze half of it well wrapped in cling film. You can use it to make lamingtons at a later date, or for a trifle or something. No harm ever came from having cake in the freezer.
   
2. Make the frosting: cream the butter and cream cheese until smooth and amalgamated, then beat in the icing sugar. You should have a creamy, smooth icing.
3. Using a small spatula (or a table knife), apply the icing to each side of the cake cubes. It is easier to frost them all before coating in crumbs, so have ready a sheet of parchment to sit them on while they wait. It is messy work, but just thing about how delicious it will be to lick the bowl when you finish.
4. Put the cookie crumbs into a shallow dish, and quickly roll the frosted cake cubes in them. Since these lamingtons stay quite moist, I think it's easier to place them into cupcake cases, to stop them sticking together. Allow to stand for a few hours before serving.

Re-Invent the Lamington Yourself!

Chocolate, Cinnamon and Peanut Butter Cookies

I never know for sure, because it's very hard to tell at the outset, but I think that this may be one of the recipes that someone will read here and then actually go off and make. If you're feeling like you might be that person, well, I invite you to scroll down: the picture of the dough is going to seal the deal.

After Monday's biscotti, I am pleased to be posting another biscuit recipe. Sometimes you need something easy and simple to be getting on with, and that's why I like cookies. Nothing taxing about making them, and you get to have a full biscuit jar. It's win-win.

Nigella Lawson once said that making biscuits always seems like the sort of cooking that somebody else does, and I know what she means, up to a point. But when you do get around to it (and I say this with absolute conviction), you always wonder why you don't do it more often, and what has been keeping you from doing it sooner. It's exactly the same feeling as the one I get when I listen to old Neneh Cherry records.

(I find that analogy to be particularly pleasing.)

See what I mean? You are so going to make these.

Now, why these cookies are so sensational is that you don't have to bake them all in one go. It's not that you can't (but don't eat them all in one go, please), but that the dough, when portioned and shaped into squidgy mounds, can be frozen. For ages. You can then bake the frozen dough balls straight from the freezer, and so never be more than twenty minutes away from freshly baked cookies. This is, in fact, what Lucinda Scala Quinn, editorial director of food and entertaining for Martha Stewart Living does, so as to have fresh cookies on hand for 'casual get-togethers'.

'Casual get-togethers'? Lucinda - I want an invitation!

I may well end up making these as Christmas gifts actually. I quite like the idea of giving them out, packaged in their frozen state. You get so much sugary stuff around the festive season that it would be quite cool to give someone a batch of biscuits they can bake when they want, instead of watching them stale in a prettily ribboned jar.

Just a thought.




Chocolate, Cinnamon and Peanut Butter Cookies
adapted from Cookies

You will need:

2 cups plain flour
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1 tsp salt
1 tsp ground cinnamon
175g butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup peanut butter
1 cup soft brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups chocolate chips
2/3 cup chopped salted peanuts
2 tsp vanilla extract

1. Heat oven to 180°C, and line a baking sheet with parchment.
2. Whisk together flour, salt, bicarb. and cinnamon in a bowl.
3. Cream the butter, peanut butter and sugars together until smooth and combined. Beat in eggs and vanilla, followed by the dry ingredients. Mix to a smooth dough.
   
4. Fold in nuts and chips; refrigerate for at least 15 minutes.
5. Use an ice-cream scoop to make balls of dough; place balls onto lined baking sheet, well spaced. Bake for 12 minutes, then cool on a wire rack.
   

Cantucci di Prato

Or Canticci di Pietro, if you'll allow me...

It is that time of the year when everyone starts talking about what edible Christmas treats they are making to give away, and the food blogs run wild with suggestions. Not all food blogs mind; I seem to have hardly posted at all recently, which I feel not quite bad about, but not 100% at ease with either. I have cooked for the blog, it's just that people keep eating the food before I can get a picture of any reasonable quality. And you know what low standards I have when it comes to the photos.

Thus my coq au vin will have be remade (the hardship!), as will the clafoutis (ditto) and the various cakes that never quite made it. I might wait a while for the first two though, based purely on the amount of butter that went into them. We had friends over, so it was fine, but making Julia Child recipes for just the two of us might lead to considerable weight gain, given my already-with-us-for-the-long-haul penchant for the sweet and sticky.

That reminds me: I have been saying I'll make these cinnamon rolls all year and need to get on it.

I believe I promised some Italian recipes after having been to visit Bob and Francesco in September. True slacker that I am, I haven't posted any until today, and even worse for those who want a traditional recipe, I have actually bastardised one quite awfully here. I am not going to apologise, but am going to say that they contain Brazil nuts, oranges and cinnamon, so calm down, missus, it's still all good.

As far as I am aware, Julia Child never wrote a recipe for biscotti, and she certainly never made this one, since it has no butter in it whatsoever. But I have noticed that lots of American bakers do add butter to their dough; this is so wrong. Stop it, I beg of you. The whole point of biscotti is that you dry the shizzle out of them, so adding butter is pointless.

True Cantucci di Prato contain aniseed and almonds. My biscotti have neither, because I have no desire to be that person who buys ingredients for absolutely every recipe he tries anymore. I don't have the shelf space, the time or the money. Also: Brazil nuts. Do you really want almonds instead? Didn't think so.

Some years ago I made a jar of Christmas biscotti for each family that makes up my extended family, thinking they would be a nice gift. It was an act of madness (12 jars), and will never be repeated, or at least, not without using smaller jars. However, should you wish to make these for Christmas gifts, know that:

• they will last for ages, so you could make them now, and stash away for next month;
• they are quite an economical gift to make so long as you use cheap packaging (basically, don't use big, expensive IKEA jars that hold an entire batch, unless you're only making them for one person) - cellophane bags would be great;
• you can add whatever nuts and dried fruits you have in the cupboards.

Mr. P's Brazil Nut and Orange Biscotti

You will need:

300g plain flour
200g granulated sugar
100g Brazil nuts
3 eggs
zest of 1 orange
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
a pinch of salt

1. In a large bowl, stir together the flour, sugar, salt, bicarb, orange zest and nuts.
2. Break in two of the eggs, and using your hands (keep one clean and outside the bowl, in case you need to answer the phone!), mix carefully to a dough. You can add milk if everything looks dry, but it should be fine. Take your time, and mix well.
3. Form three small baguette shapes from the dough, each the width of two fingers. Put the dough baguettes on a parchment lined baking sheet and brush with the well beaten thrid egg.
4. Bake for 15 minutes at 190°C, then remove from the oven and slice the baguettes into biscotti. Bake the slices for another 5 minutes in the oven on the baking sheet, then turn them over and bake again on the other side for 5 minutes.
5. Cool on a wire rack. Store airtight.

Maple-Cocoa Macarons

I think Ms. Humble said it best: 'Swiss Meringue Buttercream? Yes please!'

I know you'll think me lazy for posting another version of a recipe that I have done before, but quite frankly, I needed something suitably beautiful to banish the pie trash that was hanging around on the front page of my blog, and quick sticks. As it happens, I missed the good light anyway, and am less than happy with the photos, but stopped short of actually killing myself as penance. What can I say? You get, at least, to look at a pretty blue passion flower and a vintage sugar bowl with blue roses. Look for the positives in life!

By the way, that passion flower is the last one I am ever picking. Last year, when we moved into our place, the garden was literally covered with them, and I got a bit passion flower happy. You know, filling old coffee tins with them to brighten up the kitchen, attaching them to gifts wrapped in newspapers and tied with old cotton twine. That's right; Mr. P can come over all Homes and Gardens when the mood takes him.

Anyway, the point is, they don't like being picked. The vine hardly flowered at all this year, and from what I gather, it is because I picked so many last year. Oh, and pruned it to within an inch of its gnarled, woody life in the Winter. (Well, it looked dead!)

So readers, if you want abundant passion flowers on your vine, don't pick or prune. A little free garden advice, brought to you by Delicious Delicious Delicious.

Now, let us return to the case in hand: macarons. I should tell you that although I am going against my usual policy of 'No chocolate, chocolate is boring', and am not revising said policy (at this stage), it has been proven to be rather counter-productive in this particular case. Chocolate flavoured macaron shells are really fantastic! Cocoa is one of the few ingredients that can drown out the almond flavour almost completely, meaning you get a macaron that tastes 100% of what it should. It also colours the macaron batter naturally. OK, it colours it brown, which is not the most exciting colour in the world, but still... Nothing artificial - a macaron you'd be happy to give to your children.

The filling is Swiss meringue buttercream that I had left over from a layer cake in the freezer. If you yourself ever go Swiss, I really recommend sticking a few spoons full into a plastic freezer pot to use as a mac filling. Brought to room temperature, all you need to do is stir with a spoon until the buttercream is smooth again (which took about two minutes), add extracts, and you are good to go. Apart from anything else, the amount of filling used to put macaron shells together is really small - why would you ever bother to make a ganache?

If there are any mac doubters left out there: get over it. I have two work colleagues who now routinely make macarons, and they, like me, are not trained pastry chefs. (That's a lovely idea though: pastry chefs moonlighting as flight attendants! ) You can do this. Even if you can't get a passion vine to flower.

Maple-Cocoa Macarons

You will need:

110g icing sugar

50g ground almonds

1 tbsp cocoa

60g egg whites, aged (left in a glass on the kitchen counter for a few days)

40g caster sugar

Swiss meringue buttercream, flavoured with maple extract

1. Line a baking sheet with parchment, and prepare a piping bag with a plain nozzle.
2. Sift the icing sugar, cocoa and almonds together.
3. Beat the egg whites and caster sugar together until stiff peaks form; fold the sifted cocoa mixture into this meringue. Don't be shy - you can be heavy-handed and this will still work.
4. Scrape the batter into your piping bag and pipe small rounds onto the parchment, well spaced. From this amount of batter, I get 30 shells, though mine are quite large.
5. Rest the piped shells for half an hour and pre-heat your oven to 150 C.
6. Bake the shells for between 11 and 13 minutes. There is guess work as to when they are perfectly done here - sorry. Cool on the sheet, then remove to a wire rack.
7. Sandwich the shells with the buttercream, and mature in the fridge for a day or so before eating (at room temperature).

Oatmeal and Raisin Cookies

Today, we will mostly be appreciating the texture and aroma of these cookies. Mostly.

So I've been reading from the Brothers Grimm, and thought I'd like to share a tale of theirs with you today. Its title is 'God's Food', and I had hoped before reading it that it would be the ideal starting point for me to tell you about my really rather marvellous oatmeal and raisin cookies. Let's see what you make of it, shall we?

Once upon a time there were two sisters. The first had no children and was rich. The second was a widow who had five children and was so poor that she no longer had enough food for herself and her children. So she went to see her sister in distress and said, 'My children and I are suffering a great deal from hunger. Since you're so rich, give us some bread.' However, the sister, who was as rich as a gold mine and also had a heart made of stone, replied, 'I myself have nothing in the house,' and she turned her poor sister away with angry words.

After a while the rich sister's husband came home and wanted to cut a slice of bread for himself. However, as he made the first slice in the loaf, red blood gushed out. When his wife saw it, she became horrified and told him what had happened. He rushed to the widow's house to help her, but as he entered her living room he found her praying and holding the two youngest children in her arms. The three oldest children were lying dead on the ground. He offered her some food, but she declined. 'We no longer desire earthly food. Thanks to God three of us are already content, and He will answer the rest of our prayers as well.' She had barely uttered these words when her two little ones stopped breathing, whereupon her heart broke and she sank to the ground dead.

Sadly not what I was expecting. How was it for you?

Three things:

1. OMG - what a distressing tale (and misleading title!). Thanks, Messrs. Grimm.
2. So much for sisterly love. Though a 'please' may have helped the situation.
3. 'Became horrified' - surely the most fabulous turn of phrase ever, and certainly my new favourite.

Well, anyway, forget all that, because I have got cookies for you today, and they are truly amazing. We are going to be thanking Martha for them, and also halving her recipe, because I find oatmeal and raisin cookies especially difficult to say 'no' to, and have issues with portion control. I do not need 5 dozen of these. If you feel differently, adjust the recipe. Or your frame of mind. I don't think anybody needs 5 dozen cookies.

Apologies. I became horrified and forgot to metricate.

Finally! I have one of those 'stack of cookies and a drink' photos on my blog!

I ♥ Fishs Eddy - if anyone from the company is reading, send freebies.

Soft and Chewy Oatmeal and Raisin Cookies
adapted from Martha Stewart's Cookies

You will need:

1 1/2 cups rolled oats
1/2 cup + 1 tbsp plain flour
1/4 cup wheat germ
1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon coarse salt
1 stick butter, at room temperature (that's 113g)
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup light muscovado sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
3/4 cup raisins

1. Pre-heat the oven to 180°C. Line a baking sheet with parchment.
2. Mix the flour, wheat germ, oats, bicarb., baking powder and cinnamon together in a large bowl.
3. Cream the butter and sugars together. I just used a wooden spoon, and it took about three minutes; this is easy stuff. Add the egg and vanilla; combine. Stir in the dry mixture and finally the raisins.
4. Using an ice-cream scoop, make little mounds of the dough on the lined sheet. Squish them slightly to help them flatten out (use a fork, or a spoon).
5. Bake for about 12 minutes until golden brown. Cool on the sheet for 5 minutes or so, then on a wire rack. Makes about 30 cookies.

Mango and Jasmine Macarons

I'm starting to feel slightly foolish about slating the macaron craze. See, I have been making more of them. It's becoming a bit of an addiction. Like gambling. Only instead of wondering whether or not my horse will come in, I am betting on whether or not I'll get good mac shells, with smooth tops and feet. I love the pressure and not knowing!

I don't know what came over me - flowers from the garden and all that - but I seem to have found my inner Mowie Kay!

A week or so ago I was in the Isetan food hall in Shinjuku, Tokyo, which is something of a macaron paradise. I was shopping for sakura mochi, which I have a bit of a thing for (I won't eat the cheap ones you can get at supermarkets and convenience stores), but ended up seduced by the bright colours of the almond discs.



I don't remember whose counter I ended up at (I know it was opposite Aoki Sadaharu, but that's all), and went for a jasmine and mango flavoured macaron. The girl behind the counter asked if I wanted it wrapping. Ha! I snaffled it up right there.

In all honesty, it wasn't up to much. Very sweet, and the shell wasn't chewy enough. But I liked the flavour combination, and so when I found some jasmine extract in my favourite Parisian baking supply store the following week, I didn't hang around.

I have become one of those terrible, 'Look at my smooth shells and feet' photo-bloggers - sorry.

I have a ton of mango purée on hand for another, top secret project (I love a little blog suspense), so the macs this week were actually a way of using up leftovers. A little economical luxury in the kitchen, if you will. Mixed with some mascarpone cheese, the purée made a perfect filling for the mango-coloured shells.

I used the same recipe as usual for these macarons, flavour differences allowing, but changed the way I bake them. I usually fold a double thickness of greaseproof paper, and bake them on that, on the thick metal tray that came with my oven, but last time it stuck and I was so devastated that I almost killed myself. Not wanting to undergo such suicidal feelings again this time, I decided to switch things up, and bought some 'Baking Paper' (not parchment) from Tesco. I am in love; the shells lifted clean off and had perfect bottoms. Photographic evidence is included with this post. Basically, I am never using anything else again!

L'évidence.

Mango and Jasmine Macarons
You will need:

110g icing sugar
50g ground almonds
1 tsp jasmine extract
2 egg whites (60g), aged for 24 hours (just leave them on the kitchen counter, uncovered)
40g caster sugar
small dab of tangerine food colour gel

50g mascarpone cheese
40ml mango purée

1. Sift the 110g icing sugar into a large bowl, and mix in the almonds.
2. In another bowl, whisk the egg whites until frothy, then slowly whisk in the caster sugar until you have soft peaking meringue. Add the dab of colour gel and jasmine, and carry on whisking until stiff peaks form.
3. Add the almond and sugar mixture, and fold in. You are supposed to do this in exactly 50 strokes, and turn the bowl 45° after every tenth stroke. I don't think it's of paramount importance - you should just have a smooth mixture.
4. Put this mix into a piping bag with the end snipped off, and pipe circles about 2 inches in diameter and well spaced apart on a lined baking sheet. You should have between 28 and 30 blobs of mixture. Let's call it 29.
   
5. Let them sit for 30 minutes while you pre-heat the oven to 150°C.
6. Bake for 12 minutes on the bottom shelf. Cool completely on the sheet, and then remove using a pallet knife.
7. For the filling: beat together the mascarpone and mango until smooth and pale orange in colour; use to put the macarons together.

Crème de Violet Macarons

A friend recently told me that Delicious Delicious Delicious has undergone a makeover and is now 'an explosion of colour.' I didn't really know what she meant, but I suppose actually the description is fair. Since its birth last year, the blog has had a fair few different looks - three columns, two columns, three columns again, several different templates... The list goes on. But it's true that there is a lot of colour in the sidebars, and do you know what? I tend to forget it's there.

Yup. The man who spends ages trying to make his food look pretty forgets about it once it is up here on show.

The pictures I choose to border the text on my blog are the ones I am relatively happy with (you all know of my ongoing struggles with lighting and basic inability to take a decent shot of anything I make) and don't really want to forget about. It started with the lamingtons, because making them was such fun that I wanted a permanent reminder of those crazy coconut and crumb filled blue-gray Winter days on the blog's front page. Then I added more pictures and forgot about the lams for a while. The only ones that repeatedly caught my attention (and still do) were the Purple Rain Lamingtons; they were so delicious.

As a tribute to Delicious Delicious Delicious' latest puff quote, I wanted my next batch of home made macs to be 'an explosion of colour', too, like the ones you see in the food halls of trendy department stores. I mean, have a look at what Pierre Hermé gets away with. His are basically the street walkers of the macaron world! I first thought to try to turn out a batch of hot pink macaron shells, and sandwich them with a spicy, cinnamon infused slut-red ganache, but I didn't add enough colouring to the macaron batter and ended up with cherry blossom coloured macarons. Which were also strange shapes - turns out you were right, Mardi. My first time must have been pure luck; these are tempermental cookies!

Anyway, I wasted no time on the failed pinkies. I just ate them, right off the baking sheet, and moved on. (And no, you can't see them - I deleted the photos.) But needing inspiration and being short on time (I had exactly one day before leaving on another trip, my first since the ash disaster - fingers crossed we have no repeats of that!), I decided to trawl the net for some ideas. Fruitless. As I was just giving up, the Purple Rain Lamingtons jumped out at me, tantilizingly, from the side of the page.

One word: convinced.



Out came the food colouring and violet liqueur, and I re-read Ms. Humble's seminal French Macaron 101 to try and trouble shoot my failed slut macs.

(I think I over beat the mixture, but we'll never know for sure.)

I was happy this time. The reason? My beautiful, smooth shells. The key is to use as finely ground almonds as you can get. I did this by sifting my ready-ground almonds before weighing them out; all the chunky, granular almond pieces went back into the packet, and I used only the powdery almond dust that passed through my mesh sieve to make the macaron batter. You think this baker has a food processor to grind almonds? Well, he doesn't.

I am repeating the recipe from my grapefruit and lychee macarons post. The only difference this time is that I used the seeds of one vanilla pod instead of the grapefruit zest in the batter, and flavoured the buttercream with Crème de Violet instead of Soho. If you really wanted to go for it, you could grind up a packet of Parma Violets to use in place of the vanilla, but I hate them, so didn't.

My photos were taken hurriedly (I was icing a layer cake for a friend's birthday party and making my own sprinkles at the same time, and we all know that men can't multi-task to save their lives), in poor lighting at the end of the day, so you shall have to forgive me. All I will say is that later on, as an after thought, we sprinkled the macarons with Nite Violet Edible Glitter and had a full on Pre-Party Purple Party. Sugary, sparkling bliss.


Crème de Violet Macarons

You will need:

110g icing sugar
50g ground almonds
seeds from 1 vanilla pod
2 egg whites (60g), aged for 24 hours (just leave them on the kitchen counter, uncovered)
40g caster sugar
small dab of grape violet food colour gel

50g soft butter
125g icing sugar
45ml (3 tbsp) Crème de Violet liqueur

1. Sift the 110g icing sugar into a large bowl, and mix in the almonds and vanilla.
2. In another bowl, whisk the egg whites until frothy, then slowly whisk in the caster sugar until you have soft peaking meringue. Add the dab of colour gel, and carry on whisking until stiff peaks form.
3. Add the almond and sugar mixture, and fold in. You are supposed to do this in exactly 50 strokes, and turn the bowl 45° after every tenth stroke. I don't think it's of paramount importance - you should just have a smooth mixture.
4. Put this mix into a piping bag with the end snipped off, and pipe circles about 2 inches in diameter and well spaced apart on a lined baking sheet. You should have between 28 and 30 blobs of mixture. Let's call it 29.
   
5. Let them sit for 30 minutes while you pre-heat the oven to 150°C.
6. Bake for 12 minutes on the bottom shelf. Cool completely on the sheet, and then remove using a pallet knife.
7. For the filling: beat together the liqueur, 125g icing sugar and 50g butter until smooth and fluffy; use to put the macarons together, and lick the rest from the bowl greedily. If you prefer, make the frosting from the original Purple Rain Lamingtons, which also contained cream cheese. Lovely stuff!
   

Grapefruit and Lychee Macarons

Despite their flaws, I could weep with pride.

Do you remember me venting about my distaste for the obsession with macarons? And pointing out that even Parisian macarons are sometimes done badly? And that everyone is getting a little too obsessed with this over-hyped meringue? Well, if not, read this.

Today, I am putting the old 'if you can't beat 'em, join 'em' adage into practice. I don't plan on becoming obsessed with macarons, but I do like a challenge, and have decided to join the baking fray, as it were.



I have read more posts about macarons than I care to mention, and have weighed up the pros and cons of each method of macaron production accordingly. I think, after much consideration, the Italian Meringue Technique (capitalised for the hell of it - makes it sound important, no?) is the one for me, but as I have not a sugar thermometer, nor a stand mixer with a steel bowl, I am forced to use the French Meringue Method instead.

Quel dommage.


The recipe I decided to use, as eagle eyed comment readers will no doubt already know, is the one that Sarah at Maison Cupcake uses. Reading her macaron trials and tribulations, and absolute insistence that this was the perfect recipe for getting the elusive 'feet' on the temperamental cookies in question, I decided to do the right thing and cut to the chase - this was also the recipe that I would use.

But I wanted to flavour them in my own special way! And what a way it is, ladies and gents.


My inspiration is a cocktail I sometimes have with friends. I'm not telling you the cocktail's name, because, quite frankly, it's a naughty word, and I try not to cuss on this blog, but basically, the drink is a mixture of lychee liqueur and grapefruit juice. And it's rather special.

The lychee liqueur in question is Soho, which seems to be known as Dita internationally. We used to drink it with lemonade when we lived in France as students, so I have a soft spot for it. But let me tell you right now that it is amazing for adding lychee flavour to desserts. I think most liqueurs are - I use Cointreau a lot in cooking, and the Purple Rain Lamingtons would have been nothing without the Crème de Violet lurking in the back of the cabinet.

This was the moment my heart sang. Feet!

Again, I can't choose which photo I like best.

I think my texture is quite good for a first try.

For the grapefruit flavouring, I just added the finely chopped zest (I never grate - who can be bothered with that?) of one bright yellow fruit to the meringue along with the nuts and icing sugar.

So how do I think I did?

Well, in terms of flavour and texture (I don't want to say 'mouthfeel'!), I am going to give them an 8 out of 10; I am incredibly pleased with myself. But for appearance, I can only give myself a 4. The reason for this is that I must have under-mixed the batter. Because it was rather stiff, when I piped the mac shells out on to my baking sheet, they peaked like regular meringues. I assumed, wrongly, that they would flatten out and spread during baking. I would smooth them down with a pallet knife before baking if this happened again. They did have feet though, which is why I didn't only give them 2.

Did I enjoy the macaron experience? Yes. Will I make them again? Yes.

I think I have caught the bug. Heaven help us all!

By the way, I would like you all to say hello to my latest charity shop purchase. I couldn't resist these cups and saucers, and am sure they'll be in loads of my photos from now on! And in the fair hands of Mr. Other P's mum when she comes round - she likes her tea in a proper cup.


Grapefruit and Lychee Macarons

You will need:

110g icing sugar
50g ground almonds
zest of 1 grapefruit, finely grated or chopped
2 egg whites (60g), aged for 24 hours (just leave them on the kitchen counter, uncovered)
40g caster sugar
small dab of orange food colour gel

50g soft butter
125g icing sugar
45ml (3 tbsp) lychee liqueur

1. Sift the 110g icing sugar into a large bowl, and mix in the almonds and zest.
2. In another bowl, whisk the egg whites until frothy, then slowly whisk in the caster sugar until you have soft peaking meringue. Then add the dab of colour gel, and carry on whisking until stiff peaks form.
3. Add the almond and sugar mixture, and fold in. You are supposed to do this in exactly 50 strokes, and turn the bowl 45° after every tenth stroke. I don't think it's of paramount importance - you should just have a smooth mixture. Read Sarah's post for more detail, she's got very good instructions.
4. Put this mix into a piping bag with the end snipped off, and pipe circles about 2 inches in diameter and well spaced apart on a lined baking sheet. You should have between 28 and 30 blobs of mixture. Flatten with a moist pallet knife if they peak.
5. Let them sit for 30 minutes while you pre-heat the oven to 150°C.
6. Bake for 12 minutes on the bottom shelf. Cool completely on the sheet, and then remove using a pallet knife.
7. For the filling: beat together the liqueur, 125g icing sugar and 50g butter until smooth and fluffy; use to put the macarons together.
   
8. Eat. Weep. Think of more flavours to do, and schedule regular 'mac-off' time.
   

As promised!

Sushi grass: finally useful!

I do not lie. I am late however.

Without further ado, here are my belated St David's Day cut-out cookies. The sugar dough recipe can be found here (I used the zest of a lemon to flavour it), and the way I applied the sanding sugar was rather renegade - I diluted a little golden syrup with boiling water, brushed the cookies with this homemade 'glue' (well, come on, that's what it is) and then dipped and sprinkled away.

*SHOCK* Naked Welsh dragon alert.

And I know that the Welsh flag doesn't actually have grass on it as such, but there's only so long a man can have plastic sushi grass in his cupboard without using it. Fact.

Enjoy.

Do WHAT to a biscuit?

I had an email from Gail at The Claytons Blog recently, about the blog event that they are currently orchestrating for the month of March. You can read all about it here. And you should. Because then I can go and pack my suitcase instead of writing all about it here (I'm in a rush!).

For the similarly time-strapped among us, though, here's a summary:

• It's a competition.
• It involves baking.
• There's a prize.
• Entrants have to make a huge version of a commercially available biscuit, at home, from scratch. This is called, ahem, 'pimping' a biscuit.

I was sold on the first three points. Ordinarily, I am not a competitive person, but throw some flour, butter and sugar into the equation, and I am at it full throttle, guns-a-blazing, going to get me the gold medal and onto that #1 podium and you better believe it.

(I should have been an Olympian.)

Now, this challenge was not without it's difficulties. Despite having survived (though just barely) a childhood addiction to/dependency on those lurid pink wafers that come in the huge biscuit selection boxes you can buy at Christmas, as an adult I don't really buy biscuits that often, and those I like probably wouldn't appeal to judges ( my favourites are fig rolls and Garibaldi - hardly going to set the world alight with my creativity there, am I?). But the cookie gauntlet had been thrown down. On went my 'Blogging Community' apron: I was in.

File under: 'To be pimped'.

That coconut layer right there sold it to me.

More to the point, Gail and Coby both Re-Invented the Lamington, so I owe them big for making them mess up their kitchens on my behalf. Ladies - I've got your back, make no mistake.

Rules state that the biscuit to be pimped must be a known brand in the entrant's country of residence, and also be scaled up to at least 8" in diameter.

Well, I am pushing the boundaries rather more than just a little with my entry, but, darling, I live an international lifestyle, and for me, popping to the Monoprix at Beaugrenelle in Paris is just like nipping out to the Co-Op in Cardiff.

OK, not really. But I do always stop off at the Monoprix when I'm in Paris, and frankly, had hardly any time even to make my entry let alone go shopping for inspiration on my days off. So Mr. P's entry to the competition will be a pimped version of Bonne Maman's tartelettes chocolat noix de coco. You cannot actually buy them in Cardiff;I know I risk disqualification (I did do step by step photos though, Gail, which is a first for me!).

The other rule I broke was the size one. My biscuit measured only 7.5", and was the incorrect shape because I couldn't find the dish I planned to use but, regardless, these things are about taking part, are they not? (Just give me a chance, I can do it, I swear!)

Anyway, the actual biscuits in question are ridiculously scrumptious. I do actually usually buy the chocolate version every once in a while, but thought the coconut layer in this variety would make things more interesting from a home-baking perspective. The packaged experience goes something like this - rich buttery biscuit shell, filled with dark chocolate and a grainy, coconut filled hidden cream layer. It is almost enough to turn me into a regular biscuit buyer.

Since I doubt anyone will actually follow my lead and make this, I'm not posting the recipe as I usually would; completist readers are welcome to drop me an email however - I always like to hear from you.

To 'pimp' it, I considered using pastry as the base, but wanted to actually make a biscuit, as opposed to a pie, so took some plain cookie dough out of the freezer (a half quantity), which, thankfully, I had previously labelled 'vanilla' - I nearly picked up the 'lemon' - and rolled it out to fit into the dish I was using. Then I baked at 180°C until I had a tart-shaped biscuit. Which looked somewhat more rustic than the bought version, but never mind.


Then I mixed 1/3 cup of dessicated coconut with 3 tbsp double cream and spread the resulting (delicious!) mixture into the cooled cookie shell.

Like so.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, I had some chocolate chips (about 1/2 cup) melting over simmering water. The coconut layer then received a thick coat of this glossily melted chocolate. If I were to do this again, I would use a ganache instead, or add some butter the chocolate to make it more liquid - the biscuits themselves have a smooth top, which I couldn't achieve with melted chocolate alone. Too time-short for regrets though am I, so let's get over it.

I always think I don't like chocolate as much as everyone else. But I do. I do.

Enough talk - how did the pimped biscuit taste? Well, as you'd expect, about a million times better than anything out of a packet. Mr. Other P was left with over half of it when I went to London the day before yesterday, and I got back last night to find it gone. All of it.

For size comparison, and to remind me to buy hand cream.

Would I do this again? Well, I probably wouldn't 'pimp' any more biscuits (though you never know - the mint Viscount is not without its charms), but I would certainly make this as a dessert if I had the ingredients lying around. And I pretty much always do, so we'll see.

Now, where's my gold medal?

The competition is open until the end of March. You know what to do.