Peanut Butter and Honey Choc Chip Cookies (they’re flourless too!)

These are an interesting cookie – they are really soft, almost cakey in texture as there is no flour in them.  I have to admit, I was a little worried I wouldn’t get these cookies to work.  The first time I made them, I had the oven at a normal ‘moderate’ baking temperature and used a fancy peanut butter, and they didn’t turn out.  They started to burn really quickly and they peanut butter was too runny, so the cookies were similar to a very moist but crumbly brownie texture when I had to take them out of the oven after all of five minutes.  Anyways, I picked myself up and tried again, making a few tweaks that have paid off.  And yes, it still is a very wet mix, but the cookies do firm up slightly when cooling.

They are a reasonably healthy treat (no flour or cups of sugar) if you eat them in moderation and I have to say I love the addition of almond extract instead of vanilla – it gives these cookies a unique flavour which is incredibly moreish and goes so well with the peanut butter and honey.  And, if you need another reason to try these, it turns out the 16th – 23rd March is ‘National Honey Week’ for 2015!

Makes about 12 cookies.

Ingredients:
¾ cup peanut butter (I used Sanitarium’s No added Sugar or Salt Crunchy variety)
⅓ cup honey
1 egg
½ teaspoon almond extract
¼ teaspoon baking powder
Pinch of sea salt flakes
½ cup dark chocolate bits

Method:
Preheat the oven to 160C.  Line a baking tray with baking paper.
In a large bowl mix together all the ingredients except the chocolate, until everything is combined and smooth.  Fold through the chocolate bits.
Scoop out small amounts of the mixture and drop onto the prepared baking tray (an ice cream scoop works well for this).
Bake for approximately 10 minutes or until golden brown.  Remove from the oven and let cool on the baking tray for at least 5 minutes before transferring to wire rack to cool completely.

Midnight Choc Chip and Coconut Cookies

The recipe for Midnight Cookies has to be one of my faves.  It uses basic ingredients you probably have sitting in the pantry, is a simple ‘mix everything in a bowl’ then bake recipe, and makes a delicious chocolatey biscuit (that doesn’t actually include chocolate, so if you are craving chocolate but there’s none around, mix up some of these).  This variation includes chocolate pieces as I had some in the cupboard and desiccated coconut.  They are pretty darn delish!

Makes about 20.

Ingredients:
125g butter, softened
175g caster sugar
1 egg, lightly beaten
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
125g flour
35g cocoa powder
125g chocolate chips
35g desiccated coconut (or try shredded coconut if you want the coconut to be more noticeable)
½ teaspoon baking soda

Method:
Preheat the oven to 180°C and line several baking trays with baking paper.
Place the butter and sugar in a large bowl and beat together until light and fluffy.  Add the egg and vanilla extract and mix until smooth.  Add in the flour, cocoa, chocolate chips, coconut and baking soda.  Beat until well mixed.
With dampened hands, roll teaspoon sized pieces of the dough into smooth balls.  Place on the baking sheets, spaced well apart. Bake in the preheated oven for 10 – 12 minutes, or until set.  Leave to cool on the baking sheets for 5 minutes, then transfer the cookies to wire racks to cool completely before serving.

Dark Chocolate Cranberry Cookies

 
These Chocolate Cranberry Cookies are amazing.  They are so rich and indulgent, and we’ve made two batches of them just this week!  I wanted to try out using chocolate cranberries in some baking.  I made a chocolate brownie at first, and while it was nice, it lacked the rich flavour I was after.  I was upset at the thought of having to trial out further attempts at a brownie (cost and time issues) and it was then that I remembered these cookies – the recipe is an adaption of my Midnight Cookies which are one of my fave things to make.  The addition of the chocolate chips and the cranberries make them deliciously naughty and they are quick and easy to make.  Perfect.

 
Makes about 20.

Ingredients:
125g butter, softened
175g caster sugar
1 egg, lightly beaten
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
125g flour
35g cocoa powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ cup dark chocolate chips
½ cup chocolate coated cranberry delights (or normal cranberries)

Method:
Preheat the oven to 180°C and line several baking trays with baking paper.
Place the butter and sugar in a large bowl and beat together until light and fluffy.  Add the egg and vanilla extract and mix until smooth.  Sift in the flour, cocoa and baking soda and beat until well mixed.  Mix through the chocolate chips and the cranberries.
With dampened hands, roll teaspoon sized pieces of the dough into smooth balls.  Place on the baking sheets, spaced well apart.
Bake in the preheated oven for 10 – 12 minutes, or until set.  Leave to cool on the baking sheets for 5 minutes, then transfer the cookies to wire racks to cool completely before serving.

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Lolly Cake

So, this has to be one of the easiest things on this blog to make.  Lolly Cake (personally I call it ‘Lolly Slice’) is a New Zealand treat, found in most bakeries.  My Irish flatmate has just informed me that back home they call something similar ‘fifteens’.  I had never made Lolly Cake before and couldn’t believe how simple it was.  This would be a great recipe to get the kids making and at this time of the year is would make great Christmas gifts for teachers, something to give the neighbours, unexpected visitors…

Ingredients:
120g butter, melted
250g (1 pack) malt biscuits (cookies)
½ can (200g) condensed milk
190g (1 pack) eskimo lollies (you can also use fruit puffs – lollies are what we call sweets in New Zealand)
¼ cup desiccated coconut

Method:
Cut the lollies into bite sized chunks.
Grind the biscuits up in the food processor to a fine crumb.  Add the lollies and biscuit crumbs into a large bowl.
Whisk together the melted butter and condensed milk.  Pour butter mixture over the biscuit mixture and stir to combine.
Mould the mixture into a log shape, coat the outside with the coconut, then wrap in cling film.
Place in the refrigerator for a couple of hours or until set.  Cut into 1cm slices before serving.

You could, if you don’t want the fuss of making a log, press the mixture into a slice tin and sprinkle the top with coconut.  Once it has been the fridge to set you can then cut it into slices.

White Chocolate and Macadamia Cookies

I can’t believe it’s taken me nearly four years to get around to making some white chocolate and macadamia cookies! I used our tried and tested (+ incredibly delicious) chocolate chip cookie dough for the base and added in the extras. This recipe is easy and delicious and would make a great Christmas present if you are thinking of giving some baking away this season.
Ingredients:
250g butter, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
¾ cup caster sugar
¾ cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1 egg
2 ¼ cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
250g white chocolate bits
130g macadamia nuts, roughly chopped

Method:
Preheat oven to 180˚C.  Line a couple of oven trays.
Beat butter, vanilla extract, sugars and egg in a large bowl with an electric mixer until light and fluffy. 
Stir in the sifted flour and baking soda in two batches. 
Stir in the chocolate and macadamia nuts.
Roll tablespoons of mixture into balls, place about 5cm apart on the trays. 
Bake for about 8 to 12 minutes depending how crispy you want your cookies.  Leave to cool slightly on the tray before transferring to a wire rack.
Cookies will keep in an airtight container for up to a week.

Pretzel, Peanut and Chocolate Packed Cookies

These could also be called ‘Blokes Biscuits’, they came about after I wasn’t sure what to bake and started quizzing Shane about what he felt like. The saltiness of the pretzels with the sweetness of the cookie and chocolate is awesome. The broken pretzel bits and peanuts give pops of crunch to the cookie. For the cookie base I used our awesome Chocolate Chip recipe, so if your not feeling as adventurous you should give those a go if you haven’t already!

Ingredients:
250g butter, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
¾ cup caster sugar
¾ cup firmly packed brown sugar
1 egg
2 ¼ cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1-1½ cup dark chocolate drops
1 cup mini pretzel twists (I didn’t crush mine as they broke nicely in the mixer)
½ cup unsalted peanuts

Method:
Preheat oven to 180˚C.  Grease a couple of oven trays.
Beat butter, vanilla extract, sugars and egg in the bowl of your electric mixer until light and fluffy.
Fold in the sifted flour and baking soda on a low speed. 
Fold in the chocolate, pretzels and peanuts on a low speed.
Roll tablespoons of mixture into balls, place about 5cm apart on the trays.  Bake for 10-12 minutes depending how crispy you want your cookies. 
Leave to cool slightly on the tray before transferring to a wire rack, if you want to decorate the top of your cookie with a pretzel press it into the top of your cookie while it is soft and warm.

Raspberry Choc Chunk Cookies

I made these Raspberry Choc Chunk Cookies as an alternative to your standard Chocolate Chip Cookies, something a little more adult, more rich and less sugary sweet.  These are a dark chocolate twist on the Raspberry White Chocolate Cookies I made last month, using a slightly different recipe.
They are made using frozen raspberries (I’ve been using them in lots of baking lately – so easy to have on hand.  I’m going through a phase of using raspberries and I’m also enjoying dark chocolate a lot.), so you can enjoy them any time of the year.  The raspberries make the mix really cold though, so brace yourself for frozen fingertips when rolling the mixture out!  But, that can be forgiven because I am loving the face that they are a ‘one bowl’ mix – I seriously don’t feel like I have the time for anything that requires more effort at the moment.

Make approximately 30 cookies.

Ingredients:
125g butter, softened
¾ cup brown sugar (I used Billington’s Light Muscovado Unrefined Cane Sugar)
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup plain flour
¼ cup self raising flour
⅓ cup cocoa powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
200g chocolate, chopped into chunks (I used white and dark chocolate)
125g frozen raspberries

Method:
Preheat oven to 180°C.  Line a couple of baking trays with baking trays with baking paper.
Beat the butter, sugar, egg and vanilla extract in a large bowl until combined.  Add in the flours, coco powder and baking soda, and mix until combined.  Fold through the chocolate and frozen raspberries.
Roll tablespoon sized pieces of mixture into balls then flatten slightly on the trays, placing them about 5cm apart.  Bake for approximately 12 minutes.  Remove the cookies from the oven and leave to cool for 5 minutes on the trays, before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

Raspberry White Chocolate Cookies

These Raspberry White Chocolate Cookies are soft and moreish.  There’s a subtle raspberry taste and big chunks of white chocolate.  Yum!

Makes 24.

Ingredients:
240g butter, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
¼ cup white sugar
¾ cup soft brown sugar
1 egg
2 ¼ cup flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
160g white chocolate, roughly chopped
2 cups frozen raspberries, thawed and excess liquid drained

Method:
Preheat the oven to 180°C.  Line baking trays with baking paper.
Beat the butter, vanilla essence, sugars and egg together.  Add the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt in two lots, mixing well after each.  Mix through the chocolate and raspberries.
Roll the mixture into golf ball sized balls and place on the prepared trays about 5cm apart.  Bake for 10 -15 minutes or until golden.  Remove from the oven, allow to cool on the tray for 10 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

Funfetti Cookies

These Funfetti Cookies are so much fun!  Just look at them; don’t they just make you want to smile?  The recipe is for a simple refrigerator cookie – mix, refrigerate, slice and bake.  I actually just tweaked the recipe I used for the Chocolate Sprinkle Cookies I made not so long ago.  Why not make them too?

Ingredients:
300g butter, softened
1 cup icing sugar
2 ½ cups flour
¼ cup sprinkles (the ‘stick’ variety)

Method:
Beat the butter and icing sugar in a large bowl until light and fluffy.  Stir in the flour in two batches.  Mix through the sprinkles.
Knead the dough on a lightly floured surface until smooth.  Divide the mixture in half and roll each half into a 25cm log.  Wrap in cling film and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 180°C.  Line baking a couple of baking trays with baking paper.
Cut the logs into 1cm slices.  Place about 2.5cm apart on the trays and bake for 10 minutes.  Leave to cool on the trays for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. 

*If you are having trouble getting the mixture to stick together to roll into the logs, soften and beat through another 50g butter.  The butter needs to be quite soft.

Banana Choc Chunk Cookies

We had some bananas going yucky so I decided I wanted to try making biscuits with them.  Now, these aren’t really biscuits in the traditional sense.  The banana in them makes them soft, kind of cake-like.  Simon loved them and compared the texture to a Whoopie Pie (check out our recipe index for some Whoopie Pie ideas). So, while they haven’t got that crunch, they are still pretty moreish.  The healthy-ness of the banana is hidden by the big chunks of dark chocolate.  Delish!

Makes about 30 cookies.

Ingredients:
110g unsalted butter
1 cup sugar (I used Billington’s Light Muscovado)
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
1 egg
1 cup mashed banana (about 3 bananas)
1 teaspoon baking soda
3 cups flour
pinch of salt
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon nutmeg
180g dark chocolate, chopped coarsely

Method:
Preheat the oven to 180°C.  Line a couple of baking trays with baking paper or a silicone cookie sheet.
Cream the butter and sugar together until soft and fluffy.  Add in the vanilla essence and egg and beat again until well combined.
In a separate bowl, mix together the banana and the baking soda.  Set this aside for 2 minutes so the baking soda has time to react with the banana.
Add the banana mixture to the butter mixture and beat together.  Add in the flour, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg, and mix until combined.  Fold through the chocolate chunks.
Place tablespoon sized amounts of the mixture onto the prepared trays (I recommend scooping the mix out with a tablespoon measure, and placing it on the tray using wet hands as the mixture is quite sticky).
Bake for 12 – 15 minutes or until the tops of the cookies are starting to go golden brown.  Remove from the oven and cool on a wire rack.

Lemon Poppyseed Shortbread

I’ve come home to a tree full of lemons.  Lots of lemons.  Which is great; I love lemons in baking.  So, in an attempt to use some of my lemons up I made these Shortbread biscuits.  I also made Lemon Curd, some other biscuits, and a cake, which I will share on here soon.  And, there’s still heaps of lemons left on the tree so I am taking some into work tomorrow to giveaway. 

This shortbread is really easy to make and if you don’t like poppyseeds you could try adding something else.  Next time I might experiment with half a cup of chopped pistachios or walnuts.  If you have a tree bursting with lemons and need more recipes to use them up, check out our Index page for more ideas.  And, if you like shortbread and want another easy recipe, I totally recommend you try making some Pecan Shortbread – it’s one of my fave recipes!

Makes about 36 pieces.

Ingredients:
250g butter, softened
½ cup caster sugar
zest of 1 lemon, finely grated
2 cups flour
¼ cup cornflour
pinch of salt
1 tablespoon poppyseeds

Method:
Cream the butter, sugar and lemon zest together with an electric beater until light and fluffy.  Add in the remaining ingredients and mix until well combined.
Divide the mixture into two pieces.  Roll each piece into logs approximately 20cm x 5cm x 2cm in thickness.  Wrap the logs in cling-film and place in the refrigerator for 20 minutes or until the dough is firm.
Preheat the oven to 170°C.  Line two baking trays with baking paper.
Slice the logs into 1cm thick slices and place on the prepared baking trays.  Bakes for approximately 15 minutes or until the edges are just starting to go golden brown.  Leave the shortbread to cool for a few minutes on the trays before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

Monte Carlo Biscuits

I made these Monte Carlo biscuits to take to Lydia’s Cookie Swap basically because of their name.  Simon and I are heading off for a trip around Europe (at the end of this week actually – exciting!) and Monte Carlo is one of the places we will be visiting (albeit for only a day).

Internet research tells me that Monte Carlo biscuits have actually been made by Arnotts since 1926.  I don’t know if I’ve ever tried them before; if I have they weren’t that memorable.  However, these home made ones are delish!

Ingredients:
375g butter, softened
1 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla essence
2 ½ cups self raising flour
1 ¼  cups plain flour
2 cups desiccated coconut

Filing:
125g butter, softened
1 ½ cups icing sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
4 teaspoons milk
200g raspberry jam (I heated mine for 20-30 seconds in the microwave and then passed it through a sieve because I didn’t want the pips)

Method:
Preheat the oven to 150°C.  Line a couple of baking trays with baking paper.
In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy.  Beat in the eggs and vanilla essence.
Stir in the flours and coconut until thoroughly combined.
Roll tablespoonful's of the mixture into balls, place on the baking tray and flatten with a fork.
Bake for 15 – 20 minutes or until they are just starting to go golden.  Leave to cool on the tray for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

For the filling, cream the butter and icing sugar together until light and fluffy.  Stir in the vanilla, then gradually add the milk, beating well.  Spread half the biscuits with the jam (but not right up to the edges, or it will ooze out too much!) and the other half with the icing.  Sandwich lightly together.

Chocolate Sprinkle Refrigerator Cookies

I made these Chocolate Sprinkle Cookies to take to Lydia’s Cookie Swap and I was really happy with how they turned out.  I think the fluro sprinkles (which I bought from The Pretty Baker) look awesome!  I had the idea for them, but thought executing them would be hard.  I wanted a smooth cookie that I could coat with chocolate and I didn’t know where to start.  I ended up making refrigerator cookies which are super simple; mix, roll and refrigerate, then slice and bake.  You could ditch the cocoa from the recipe if you don’t want chocolate cookies and you could leave off the sprinkles if you want something slick and sophisticated looking.

Ingredients:
For the cookies:
250g butter, softened
1 cup icing sugar
2 ½ cups flour
25g cocoa powder

To decorate:
300g chocolate melts
Sprinkles or your choice

Method:
Beat the butter and icing sugar in a large bowl until light and fluffy.  Stir in the flour and cocoa in two batches.
Knead the dough on a lightly floured surface until smooth.  Divide the mixture in half and roll each half into a 25cm log.  Wrap in cling film and refrigerate for an hour.
Preheat the oven to 180°C.  Line baking a couple of baking trays with baking paper.
Cut the logs into 1cm slices.  Place about 2.5cm apart on the trays and bake for 10 minutes.  Leave to cool on the trays for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. 

To decorate:
Melt the chocolate in a microwave safe bowl on high; stir every 20 –30 seconds until it is smooth.  Pour your sprinkles into a small bowl.
Dip half of the cookie into the chocolate.  Give the cookie a bit of a shake to remove and excess chocolate, and scrape the chocolate off the bottom of the cookie too.
Press the top of the cookie into the sprinkles, then roll the side around in the sprinkles until the chocolate has been coated.  Place on a wire cooling rack to set.

Which colour would you choose?

Cinnamon Pecan and Oat Cookies

A couple of weekends ago I took a trip to Martha’s Backyard (aka the American store) as I was told they had Hershey’s cinnamon chips in stock. I was also told that the cinnamon chips are fantastic in oat cookies. I whipped these up and was not disappointed!

Ingredients:
Makes approximately 40 cookies
225 grams butter, softened
⅓ cup sugar
1 cup light muscovado sugar (I used Billingtons)
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
1½ cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 cups rolled oats
1⅔ cups of Hershey’s cinnamon chips
1 cup roughly chopped pecans

Method:
Pre-heat your oven to 180°C and line 2-3 baking trays with baking paper.
Beat butter and sugars in a bowl until creamy.
Add eggs and vanilla, beat well.
Sift flour and baking soda into the butter mixture, and beat together on a slow-medium speed until combined.
Stir in oats, cinnamon chips and pecans (batter will be stiff).
Drop heaped teaspoons onto your lined baking trays and bake for 10-12 minutes, until golden and starting to set.
Remove from the oven and transfer to wire racks after a couple of minutes to cool completely.

These are delicious as is but to change it up a little I dipped about a third of my cookies in some dark chocolate to make them extra indulgent!

Gingerbread Men

My house smelt incredibly Christmassy while popping batches of these smiley gingerbread men in the oven. I’m not a huge fan of gingerbread but Shane is and I have been meaning to make him some the last few Christmas’ and have just run out of time/been a bit lazy! Last year I saw on Pinterest some gingerbread men in a jar and then a few weeks ago I spotted the same idea in the Chelsea gift guide, this compelled me to finally bake a batch. My recipe is slightly different to the Chelsea recipe but works off the same principal (meaning if you want to have a go at making gingerbread men in jars you can download the gift tag/instructions here, cheeky huh?!).

Makes 20.

Ingredients:
Dry
2½ cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ cup brown sugar
1 tablespoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon cinnamon
½ teaspoon nutmeg

Wet
125 grams butter, softened
½ cup golden syrup
1 egg yolk

Method:
In the bowl of your mixer beat butter with golden syrup and egg yolk until creamy and smooth.
Add the dry ingredients (contents of the jar) and mix on a medium speed until a soft dough forms.
Lay some cling film on your bench or a hard surface, place your dough on to the cling film and knead into a ball. Wrap the cling film around the ball and chill for 20 minutes.
While your dough is chilling, pre-heat oven to 170ºC and line two baking trays with baking paper.
Roll out gingerbread dough to about 3 mm (if its sticky roll between two sheets of baking paper – I did this and found it worked very well).
Cut using a gingerbread man shaped cookie cutter. Transfer to baking trays and cook for 8-12 minutes (until golden) depending on how hard you like your gingerbread.
If you want to decorate your gingerbread men/people it is best to use royal icing, you can buy powder for this at the supermarket or you can make your own using the left over egg white by beating the egg white with a whisk attachment until it is foamy. At this point you can sift in 1/2 cup of icing sugar, stir and repeat until the icing holds it shape, which is important if you can going to pipe it on (this shouldn't take more than 1 – 1 1/2 cups). Transfer icing to a piping bag an decorate as desired.

I think these gingerbread men will make the perfect gift for those who love to eat home baking but don’t necessarily like to get in the kitchen and bake. The jars on the other hand are the perfect homemade gift for bakers of all levels of experience at this time of year.

White Chocolate and Cranberry Cookies

We gave these cookies a whirl at our Christmas baking class.  They look quite festive with the red cranberries and white chocolate bits.  You could always add in some nuts if you want – perhaps pistachios for a touch of green?

Makes approximately 36 cookies.

250g butter, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
¾ cup caster sugar
¾ cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1 egg
2 ¼ cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
¾ cup white chocolate bits
¾ cup dried cranberries

Preheat oven to 180˚C. Grease a couple of oven trays.
Beat butter, vanilla extract, sugars and egg in a large bowl with an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Stir in the sifted flour and baking soda in two batches. Stir in the chocolate and cranberries.
Roll tablespoons of mixture into balls; place about 5cm apart on the trays. Bake for about 7 to 15 minutes depending how crispy you want your cookies. Leave to cool slightly on the tray before transferring to a wire rack.

*The cookies will keep in an airtight container for up to a week.
*You could try adding half a cup of your favourite chopped nuts to the mix.

Plate c/o The Vintage Table.

Soft Brown Sugar Biscuits with Browned Butter Icing

Last week I just had one of those weeks, a child that would not sleep (day or night) and was wreaking havoc, we had a housewarming/birthday bbq planned for Friday night which meant cleaning, cooking etc all in advance, then I get called in for some relief teaching on the Friday which meant my planned baking fell by the wayside (luckily Mel was able to come to my rescue with her amazing fudge recipe that she shared on Saturday), things in general just kept going wrong. Cut to the weekend and I go to bake; I have no white sugar to make the batch of biscuits I plan to give my friend Tayler as a birthday present… so, off to google I went for ideas for biscuits using brown sugar only (that we haven’t made before!).  These were what I came up with. They are cake like when you bite into them and they almost melt in your mouth – Mmmmm!

Ingredients:
Biscuits
150 grams of butter softened
1½ cups brown sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla paste
2½ cups flour
½ teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
a pinch of salt
125 grams sour cream

Browned Butter Icing
50 grams butter
1½ - 2 cups icing sugar
2-4 Tablespoons milk

Method:
Preheat your oven to 180°C and line two baking trays with baking paper.
Sift flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt into a medium sized bowl and set aside.
Place softened butter and brown sugar in the bowl of your electric mixer beat until light.
Add eggs one at a time beating well after each addition.
Add vanilla paste and mix again.
Add flour mix and sour cream to your butter mixture, alternating between the two beat well between each addition, starting and finishing with the flour mixture.
Once your your mixture is combined turn off your mixer and scoop rounded tablespoon of mixture onto your wax paper, you should get between 24-28 biscuits out of this mix.
Place in your preheated oven and bake for about 8 minutes until they are nice and golden.
Set the cooked biscuits aside to cool on a wire rack and when cooled completely top with browned butter icing.
To make the brown buttered icing you need to place your butter in a saucepan on a medium heat until it browns then remove it from the heat and add 1 1/2 cups icing sugar and stir through. Add tablespoons of milk and stir until it is a spreadable consistency – if it is too runny after the addition of milk add more icing sugar, if it is not spreadable enough continue to add small amounts of milk.

Orange and White Chocolate Cookies

aka ‘Orange Creamsicle Cookies’. I was googling for some summery cookie recipes and orange creamsicle cookies showed up a few times so I investigated further, turns out orange creamicles are a type of ice block – you don’t get much more summery than cookies inspired by and ice blocks! After reading through a few recipes I came up the recipe I’m going to share with you today, they are seriously delish and the touch of orange is summer in a cookie. The other thing to mention about these cookies is that they are ‘drop cookies’, so no rolling and flattening required. Easy!

Ingredients:
200grams butter, softened
½ cup sugar
½ firmly packed brown sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 ¼ cups all purpose flour
½ teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt
zest of one average sized Orange
1 ½ cups white chocolate bits

Method:
Pre-heat your oven to 180°C and line two baking trays with wax baking paper.
In the bowl of your electric mixer mix butter and two sugars until light and fluffy.
Place egg and vanilla into your butter mix and mix on a medium to high speed until combined.
Sift in flour, baking soda and salt. Mix on a low-medium speed until dry ingredients are just combined.
Add orange zest and white chocolate and stir through to ensure even distribution.
Drop rounded tablespoons of mixture onto your lined baking trays and place in your pre-heated oven.
Bake for 8-10 minutes until they are starting to become golden, remove from oven, leave cookies on the trays for a couple of minutes before placing them on cooling racks.
Store in an airtight container.

Chocolate Witches Hats

I had a go at making Witches Hats as a Halloween treat.  They are pretty simple to make and the recipe will give you 15 little hats.  I used midnight cookies as a base (I’ve put the original recipe below which will make a few more cookies than you need) which worked perfectly as a delicious accompaniment to the cone of the hat.  Inside my hats I hid some candy corn lollies (found at Martha’s Backyard), but you can include whatever candy is your favourite. 
We took the finished Witches Hats around to share with Simon’s family and his nieces were pretty excited when they found the hidden lollies!

To make Chocolate Witches Hats you will need:
a batch of midnight cookies (see recipe below, or alternatively, you could try your fave store bought biscuits)
15 kid sized ice cream cones
375g milk or dark chocolate, melted
Bag of Pebbles of Mini M&M’s, to decorate
½ cup of your favourite candy, to hide inside the hats

Midnight Cookies:
125g butter, softened
175g caster sugar
1 egg, lightly beaten
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
125g flour
35g cocoa powder
½ teaspoon baking soda

Preheat the oven to 180°C and line several baking trays with baking paper.
Place the butter and sugar in a large bowl and beat together until light and fluffy.  Add the egg and vanilla extract and mix until smooth.  Sift in the flour, cocoa and baking soda and beat until well mixed.
With dampened hands, roll teaspoon sized pieces of the dough into smooth balls.  Place on the baking sheets, spaced well apart.
Bake in the preheated oven for 10 – 12 minutes, or until set.  Leave to cool on the baking sheets for 5 minutes, then transfer the cookies to wire racks to cool completely.

To make the Witches Hats:
Roll the cones in a bowl of the melted chocolate to coat the outsides.  Stand on a wire rack to allow the chocolate to set.  Dip your Pebbles of Mini M&M’s into the remaining melted chocolate and adhere to the chocolate cones.
In the centre of each cookie, place the candy you want to hide inside the hat. 
Dip the rim of an ice cream cone in the melted chocolate and put it onto one of the cookies, repeat the process.
As a finishing touch you could tie a thin ribbon around the ‘brim’ of each hat.

Confetti Cookies

These look so darn cute; it was hard picking which photos to use on this post because I like them all!
The cookies are really simple to make too.  They’re a quick and easy shortbread.  And oh so much better than the store bought variety.
Baking or decorating some (or both) would make a great mini project for kids on school holidays.  Got a party coming up?  Change the sprinkles to suit your theme, and you have a great sweet treat.



Ingredients:
175g butter, chilled, chopped
⅔ cup caster sugar
2 cups flour
1 egg
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
180g white chocolate, melted
190g hundreds and thousands / sprinkles

Method:
Process the butter, sugar and flour until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs.  Add the egg and vanilla extract.  Process until the mixture just comes together.
Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead gently.  Divide the mixture into two, and shape into two discs.  Wrap both portions in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 170°C.  Line two trays with baking paper.  Roll one portion of dough between two sheets of baking paper until 5mm thick.  Using circular cookie cutters (between 3 – 5cm round), cut out rounds from the dough.  Place onto the prepared baking trays about 2cm apart.  Bake one tray at a time for 8 – 10 minutes or until the cookies are firm to touch, but not browned.  Transfer to a wire rack to cool.  Repeat with the remaining dough.



Spread the tops of the cookies with the melted chocolate.  Dip into the hundreds and thousands and leave to set on a rack before serving.

Confetti Cookies from Baking Makes Things Better on Vimeo.

Plate in first photo c/o The Vintage Table.