Cakes & Bakes: Macadamia nut & cranberry cookies

I keep forgetting how quick and easy it is to rustle up a batch of cookies. I have a bag of pistachios in the cupboard that needs to be used up, so I decided to make some pistachio & cranberry cookies using a recipe I found on the BBC Good Food website.

However, when I popped across to the supermarket to get some dried cranberries, I saw that they also did packets of cranberries WITH macadamia nuts.

I love macadamia nuts – a little on the expensive side, but you don’t need that many in the macadamia nut & cranberry cookies I ended up making.

They were just so scrumptious! Crumbly, sweet and nutty. A few chunks of white chocolate added to the mix would have gone down a treat as well. I’ll try that combination very soon. I guess I’ll use that bag of pistachios some other time!

Macadamia nut & cranberry cookies

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Cook Time 12

Course Snack

Ingredients

175 g/6oz butter softened
85 g/3oz golden caster sugar
½ tsp vanilla extract
225 g/8oz plain flour
150 g/5oz macadamia nuts & cranberries

Instructions

In a large mixing bowl, combine the butter, sugar and vanilla extract
Stir in the flour
Roughly chop the macadamia nuts & cranberries before adding to the mixing bowl. Bring the mix together as a dough
Halve the dough and shape each half into a log about 5cm across. Wrap in cling film, then chill for an hour or freeze for up to 3 months
Pre-heat the oven to 180ºC/350ºF fan/Gas mark 4
Slice the logs into 1cm-thick rounds, place on a baking tray lined with baking parchment and bake for 12-15 minutes
Remove from the oven, leaving the cookies on the tray for 5 minutes before transferring them to a wire rack to cool completely

Keyword cookies, cranberries, macadamias, peanuts

Cakes & Bakes: Gypsy Creams

We needed some treats for our biscuit barrel so that was the subject for today’s Cakes & Bakes… but which kind of biscuit?

Justin started reminiscing about Gypsy Creams – and commenting on the fact that they seem to have disappeared from the shops. I have to admit that growing up in Trinidad, I’d never heard of Gypsy Creams – but they certainly sounded good enough to try.

My numerous baking books didn’t offer a single recipe, but fortunately I found one available online.

They incorporate flour, butter, oats, golden syrup and most importantly chocolate. Two crisp biscuity layers sandwich a moist chocolate buttercream layer.

Apparently coconut can be added to the recipe too. These are often called Romany Creams, but Justin thinks that the packet Gypsy Creams from his youth had something ‘coconutty’ about them.

I have to say that they’re absolutely delicious – and are now a firm favourite of mine having missed out for nearly 50 years!

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Gypsy Creams

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Cook Time 20

Course Snack

Cuisine British

Servings 12 biscuits

Ingredients

For the biscuit dough

100 g/4oz butter
90 g/3oz golden syrup
50 g/2oz caster sugar
50 g/2oz porridge oats
10 g/½oz cocoa powder
175 g/6oz plain flour

For the buttercream

150 g/5oz icing sugar
50 g/2oz butter softened
1 tbsp milk
50 g/2oz dark chocolate melted

Instructions

For the biscuits

Preheat the oven to 170ºC/325ºF/Gas mark 3
Line a large baking sheet with parchment. Set aside
In a large saucepan, place the butter, syrup & sugar; melting gently over a low heat, stirring to combine
Sift the flour together with the cocoa powder before adding the oats to the mixture
Add these dry ingredients to the saucepan and mix together well
Leave to cool slightly
Take heaped teaspoons of the mixture and roll each into a ball between your palms
Place on the baking sheet leaving room between each ball
Flatten each ball slightly using the back of a fork
Bake for approximately 20 minutes
Using a palette knife, carefully transfer the biscuits on to a wire rack to cool completely

For the buttercream

While the biscuits are baking/cooling make the buttercream filling
Put the icing sugar, butter, milk and chocolate into a mixing bowl and combine until smooth

To finish

Spoon ½tsp of buttercream on to a biscuit and sandwich together with another biscuit

Keyword biscuits, cookies

Cakes & Bakes: Marzipan refrigerator cookies

I had a large lump of marzipan and some chocolate ganache left over from making last week’s petit fours. I HATE throwing food away, so I decided to make a batch of marzipan refrigerator cookies.

This is a quick and easy cookie recipe.

They can be cooked off in small or larger batches depending on your need – any leftover dough (wrapped in parchment paper or cling film) will live happily in the fridge for a week or so – or in the freezer more indefinitely.

Nothing beats a home-made biscuit – and we loved the sweet, almond flavour of these. If you prefer your marzipan refrigerator cookies to be soft & gooey rather than crisp, lower the heat of the oven to about 150ºC.

Marzipan refrigerator cookies

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Cook Time 12

Course Snack

Cuisine British

Servings 35

Ingredients

225 g/8oz plain flour plus extra for dusting
1 tsp baking powder
110 g/4oz butter cut into cubes, plus extra for greasing
175 g/6oz caster sugar
1 large egg lightly beaten
100 g/3½oz marzipan

Instructions

Sift the flour & baking powder into a large bowl
Add the butter and rub it with your fingertips until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs
Stir the sugar, add the eggs and combine to form a soft, loose dough
Cut the marzipan into small cubes
Turn the mixture out on to a lightly floured work surface, roll in the cubed marzipan and shape the dough into a log shape about 3cm/1¼inches in diameter
Wrap the log in parchment paper or cling film and then in foil and chill in the refrigerator for at least 4 hours or until required (I put one of the logs in the freezer to use at a later date)
Preheat the oven to 190ºC/375ºF/Gas mark 5
Grease a large baking sheet (or a few if you're making a big batch)
Slice the dough into as many 8mm/⅜-inch slices as required
Place the slices on the greased baking sheet, spaced well apart
Return any remaining dough to the fridge for up to a week or freeze for up to 6 months
Bake in the preheated oven for 10-12 minutes or until golden brown
Leave on the baking sheet to cool slightly for 2-3 minutes before transferring to cool completely

Marzipan refrigerator cookies ingredients

Keyword almond, cookies, marzipan, refrigerator cookies

Cakes & Bakes: Lemon refrigerator cookies

We needed a lemon last week for a gnocci dish. We didn’t have any in the house so I popped over to the supermarket quickly to get one. All they had were those string bags containing 4 lemons – they’d run out of the loose ones.

A week later, our fruit bowl still contained 3 lemons – just sitting there – what to do with them? I had a flick through some lemon recipes and saw one for lemon refrigerator cookies. The great thing about refrigerator cookies is that you can bake off just what you need. Say goodbye to stale teatime snacks!

If you fancy them again a few days later, just cut some more slices from the roll – fresh, warm cookies in 15 minutes flat!

Have a look at some of our other cookie recipes here!

Lemon refrigerator cookies

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Ingredients

450 g/1lb plain flour plus extra for dusting
2 tsp baking powder
225 g/8oz butter cut into cubes, plus extra for greasing
350 g/12oz caster sugar
2 large eggs lightly beaten
finely grated rind of 2 lemons

Instructions

Sift the flour & baking powder into a large bowl
Add the butter and rub it with your fingertips until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs
Stir the sugar and lemon zest into the mixture, add the eggs and combine to form a soft dough
Turn the mixture out on to a lightly floured work surface and divide the dough in half
Shape each piece of dough into a log shape about 3cm/1¼inches in diameter
Wrap each log in baking paper and then in foil and chill in the refrigerator for at least 8 hours or until required (I put one of the logs in the freezer to use at a later date)
Preheat the oven to 190ºC/375ºF/Gas mark 5
Grease a large baking sheet (or a few if you're making a big batch)
Slice the dough into as many 8mm/⅜-inch slices as required
Place the slices on the baking sheet, spaced well apart
Return any remaining dough to the fridge for up to a week
Bake in the preheated oven for 10-15 minutes or until golden brown
Leave on the baking sheet to cool slightly for 2-3 minutes before transferring to cool completely

H is for Home Harbinger

Tag: cookies

Cakes & Bakes: Macadamia nut & cranberry cookies

Macadamia nut & cranberry cookies

Ingredients

Instructions

Cakes & Bakes: Gypsy Creams

Gypsy Creams

Ingredients

For the biscuit dough

For the buttercream

Instructions

For the biscuits

For the buttercream

To finish

Cakes & Bakes: Marzipan refrigerator cookies

Marzipan refrigerator cookies

Ingredients

Instructions

Cakes & Bakes: Lemon refrigerator cookies

Lemon refrigerator cookies

Ingredients

Instructions