Tag: cookies

Fondant Christmas Cookies

Published on by Elise BLeave a comment

Ingredients (makes approx. 25 large round cookies)
125g butter
½ cup sugar
1 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 egg
1 ½ cups plain flour
2 teaspoons mixed spice
1 teaspoon baking powder

Approx 200g white fondant icing
Icing sugar
Vanilla essence
Red and green food colouring

Method
Cream butter, sugar & vanilla using electric beaters until well combined. Add the egg and beat until light and fluffy.

Using a wooden spoon or silicone spatula, mix sifted dry ingredients into wet ingredients until a dough forms. Knead gently for 1-2 minutes on a lightly floured bench and then divide into 2 roughly equal pieces, cover with clingfilm and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 180°C (160 fan-forced). Roll out dough onto a lightly floured surface using a rolling pin until you reach your desired thickness (I like mine around 5-6mm) and cut out circles using a large round cookie cutter. Repeat until you have used all the dough.

Place onto a baking tray (they don’t have to be spread out much as they don’t really expand) and bake for approximately 12-15 minutes, or until lightly golden.

While the cookies cool, make your vanilla glaze by combining vanilla essence and icing sugar until you have a thick syrup consistency.

Divide your fondant icing into 3 roughly equal parts. Colour one red, one green and leave the other white.

Roll out your fondant using a rolling pin on a surface lightly dusted with icing sugar until 3-4mm thick. Use the same round cutter as for the cookie to cut out circles of fondant.

Brush each cookie with a small amount of the vanilla glaze and the top with fondant. Press down gently to ensure the fondant has adhered completely to the cookie. Stamp with a ‘Merry Christmas’ cookie stamp or decorate as desired. Repeat until all cookies have been decorated. Enjoy!

Recipe adapted from ‘The Best Valentine Sugar Cookies’ on Alice & Lois.com

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Brookies (Brownie x Cookies)

Published on by Elise BLeave a comment

I’ll be the first to admit that I was skeptical. As a brownie purist and cookie lover, I couldn’t imagine how ‘brookies’ could improve on perfection. Well, I’m happy to say that I was proven wrong! Brookies combine the rich chocolate fudginess of a brownie with the convenience and shelf life of a cookie. They also have both the crunchy side parts AND the fudgy middle of a brownie in the one morsel, so there’s no more fighting over who gets which brownie. To sum up, I’m mad at myself for resisting this trend for so long when they are JUST. SO. GOOD.

I ate (and, regretfully, shared) this batch too quickly to experiment, but I’m going to try making brooking sandwiches next time, with a peanut butter or caramel filling.

Ingredients (makes 24)
225g dark chocolate melts
75g butter, at room temperature
¾ cup brown sugar
¼ cup white sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 eggs, room temperature
¾ cup plain flour
¼ cup cocoa powder
1 teaspoon instant coffee
1 teaspoon baking powder

Method
Melt the chocolate in the microwave in 20 second bursts, stirring between each burst, until smooth and entirely melted. Set aside to cool slightly.

In a large bowl, add the butter, brown sugar, and white sugar together with electric beaters on medium-high speed until smooth and creamy (about 2 minutes). Add the eggs and vanilla, and beat on high speed for a further 2 minutes. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl, then pour in the melted chocolate and mix on medium-high speed for 2 full minutes.

Add in the flour, cocoa powder, coffee and baking powder and beat on low speed until just combined. Cover the bowl with clingfilm and refrigerate the dough for 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 180°C (160 fan-forced) and line 2 large baking trays with baking paper.

Once chilled, roll the dough into roughly golf ball sized balls and place on the tray, leaving room to spread (I fit about 6 per tray). Bake for approximately 12 minutes or until the edges appear set and the top has a cracked appearance (don’t worry that the centre is soft, it will set as it cools). Remove from the oven and leave to cool. Enjoy!

Cookies will keep in an airtight container at room temperature for up to a week (but I doubt they’ll last that long!)

Recipe adapted from ‘My Favorite Brownie Cookies’ on Sally’s Baking Blog.

Melting Moments

Published on by Elise BLeave a comment

Happy Birthday to me! Bakerholics Anonymous is 5 years old today 🙂 In celebration of the anniversary I am posting one of my favourite biscuit recipes: melting moments. This version has a tangy passionfruit buttercream which helps cut through the deliciously buttery biscuit – yum!

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Ingredients (makes 25)
250g butter, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
½ cup icing sugar
1½ cups plain flour
½ cup cornflour
Passionfruit Buttercream
90g butter, softened
¾ cup icing sugar
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
Pulp of 3 passionfruit

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Method
Line oven trays with baking paper.

Beat butter, extract and sifted icing sugar in a large bowl with an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Gently stir in sifted flour in two batches.

Preheat the oven to 160ºC.

Roll teaspoons of mixture into balls and place ~2.5cm apart on the trays. Flatten slightly with a fork.

Bake biscuits for 15 minutes or until lightly golden on the bottom. Stand 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool.

Make butter cream by beating butter, icing sugar and vanilla with an electric mixer until pale and fluffy. Stir through passionfruit pulp. If the icing is too runny, add more icing sugar.

Sandwich biscuits with butter cream. Dust with extra icing sugar and enjoy.

Note: if you do not have passionfruit, add more vanilla extract to make a vanilla buttercream or add 1 teaspoon each of lemon juice and finely grated lemon rind to make lemon buttercream.

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Recipe from Grandma, adapted from the Australian Women’s Weekly

Stained Glass Christmas Cookies

Published on by Elise BLeave a comment

These gorgeous stained glass cookies are as fun to make as they are to eat! You can use any shaped cutters you like and could even join the cookies together to make a stained glass cookie wreath.

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Ingredients (makes approximately 50 cookies)
½ cup butter
½ cup sugar
1 teaspoons vanilla
1 teaspoon mixed spice
1 small egg
½ teaspoon water
1 ½ cups flour
¾ teaspoons baking powder

Hard/boiled lollies (I used Melbourne Rock Candy Bo Peep collection)
White chocolate, melted

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Method
Cream butter, sugar & vanilla using electric beaters until well combined. Add the egg and water and beat until light and fluffy.

Using a wooden spoon or silicone spatula, mix sifted dry ingredients into wet ingredients until a dough forms. Divide into 2 roughly equal pieces, cover with glad wrap (or plastic wrap) and refrigerate for an hour.

Line 3 large trays with baking paper.

Roll out dough using a rolling pin until it is approximately 1cm thick. Use assorted cutters to cut out shapes from the dough, and carefully place them on the lined trays (no need to leave room for spreading as they don’t). Then line up the smaller cutter of the shape in the centre of each, and cut out the centre dough.

Preheat oven to 190-200°C  (180°C fan-forced).

Divide the hard lollies into colours and blitz them, one colour at a time, in a blender until they are fine crystals. Using a teaspoon, carefully sprinkle the crystals into the empty centres of the cookies ensuring that the centre is fully covered. Brush away any crystals not in the centre as these will discolour the cookies.

Bake cookies for 8-12 minutes, until lightly golden. Leave to cool on the baking trays for 5 minutes, before gently transferring onto a wire rack to cool completely.

Once they are cool, decorate by piping melted white chocolate onto the cookies.

Enjoy!

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Sugar cookie recipe adapted from ‘Alice & Lois.com’ – ‘The Best Valentine Sugar Cookies’
Design idea from Pinterest

Xmas Reblog: Christmas Crinkle Cookies!

Published on by Elise BLeave a comment

Gosh these are good. So good in fact that I’m reblogging them and I STRONGLY urge to make yourself a batch, stat! You can thank me later…

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Ingredients (makes approx. 36 cookies)
100g butter
1 ½ cups brown sugar
1 tspn vanilla extract
2 eggs
100g dark chocolate, melted
1 ¼ cups flour, sifted
2 tspns baking powder, sifted
¼ cup cocoa, sifted
1 tablespoon red food colouring (depending on strength & desired colour, mine could have been a bit redder)
150g extra dark chocolate, roughly chopped
¼ cup sugar
¼ cup icing (powdered) sugar

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Method
Place butter, brown sugar & vanilla in a large bowl and beat with an electric mixer for 3-5mins or until light and well combined. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the melted chocolate and beat until combined. Slowly add the flour, baking powder, cocoa and food colouring and beat until a smooth dough forms.

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Fold through the chocolate chunks and refrigerate, covered, for an hour.

Preheat oven to 160°C fan-forced. Roll dessert spoons of the dough into the white sugar, shape them gently into balls and then toss in icing sugar. Place them on lined baking trays allowing plenty of room for spreading.

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Bake the cookies for 12-14mins or until the surface is cracked and the edges are slightly crispy. Don’t worry if the centre of the cookies looks undercooked, it will harden while cooling and be deliciously chewy. Enjoy!

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Adapted from the Red Velvet Crackle Cookies recipe in the Donna Hay Magazine Dec/Jan 2014

 

Brown Sugar Pecan Praline Cookies

Published on by Elise BLeave a comment

These cookies are soft and buttery, topped with a brown sugar frosting & crunchy pecan praline. I made these ready for having with tea & coffee at out ‘Chrisgiving’ celebration tonight and I must say I am pleasantly surprised – they are very more-ish and feel appropriately Thanksgiving-y.

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Ingredients (Makes around 35-45 cookies)
For the cookies
250g butter, softened
½ cup white sugar
½ cup packed brown sugar
1 large egg
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups plain flour
½ tsp baking soda
½ cup finely chopped pecans

For the praline
1 cup pecans
½ cup white sugar
2 tablespoons water
For the icing
1 cup packed brown sugar
½ cup milk
1 tbsp butter
2 cups icing sugar, sifted
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Method
In a large bowl, beat together butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Add in the egg and vanilla and beat until combined.

Add the flour and baking soda and beat until combined. Gently stir in the chopped pecans.
Cover the dough in cling wrap and refrigerate for at least 30mins.
While the dough is chilling, make the pecan praline. To make the praline, combine all ingredients in a frying pan over a moderate heat and stir well. Continue to stir as the water evaporates and the pecans become covered in white sugar. Continue stirring as the sugar melts to form a toffee around the pecans. Once all of the almonds are coated in toffee, pour onto a tray lined with baking paper to cool. Once cool, cut up with a knife or blitz in a food processor to make a fine crumb.

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I then blitzed these in the food processor for a few seconds to get a finer crumb

Preheat the oven to 160°C fan-forced. Line 3 large baking trays with baking paper. Shape dough into roughly golf-ball sized balls, flatten them with the palm of your hand and place them approximately 4cm apart on the lined baking trays.
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Bake for 10-15 mins or until fully cooked and lightly browned at the edges. Cool for 10 mins on their trays before transferring to a cooling rack.
To make the icing combine brown sugar and milk in a small saucepan over a medium heat. Bring to a boil and boil for approximately 3 mins, stirring constantly. Remove from the heat and stir in butter.
Add in the icing sugar and beat with an electric mixer until smooth. If the frosting is too thin, add more icing sugar (but leave it for a few minutes before doing this as it will thicken over time). If too thick, add more milk.
Spread icing on each cookie and top with praline. Let the icing set fully before storing in an airtight container. Enjoy!
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Adapted from ‘Brown Sugar Pecan Cookies’ from The Recipe Rebel

Simple Sugar Cookies

Published on by Elise BLeave a comment

Happy 1st birthday Bakerholics Anonymous! To celebrate this milestone I thought I would share a recipe that I have only recently discovered but used frequently. These sugar cookies are so versatile – you can cut them into any shape you like, flavour the dough with cocoa or cinnamon, and decorate however you desire.

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Ingredients (makes approx. 50 small heart cookies)
250g butter
1 cup sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 egg
3 cups plain flour
1 ½ teaspoons baking powder

Icing
2 cups icing sugar
1 tablespoon or so of melted butter
1 teaspoon vanilla
Food colouring of your choice (I used Wilton Red food gel)

Method
Cream butter, sugar & vanilla using electric beaters until well combined.

Add the egg and beat until light and fluffy.

Using a wooden spoon or silicone spatula, mix sifted dry ingredients into wet ingredients until a dough forms. Divide into 2 roughly equal pieces, cover with glad wrap (or plastic wrap) and refrigerate for an hour.

Preheat oven to 180°C (160 fan-forced). Roll out dough onto a lightly floured surface using a rolling pin until you reach your desired thickness (I like mine around 6-7mm) and cut out shapes using cookie cutters.

Place onto a baking tray (they don’t have to be spread out much as they don’t really expand) and bake for 5-8 minutes, or until lightly golden.

While the cookies cool, make the icing by combining all ingredients into a bowl. Add more butter if the icing is too thick or more icing sugar if it is too thin.

Once cool, spread the icing on the cookies with a spatula and decorate as desired.

ImageAdapted from ‘Alice & Lois.com’ – ‘The Best Valentine Sugar Cookies’

Red Velvet Crinkle Cookies

Published on by Elise B1 Comment

I love Christmas, and I particularly love Christmas baking. Whether it be for friends, teachers, family or just as a special treat for me, baked goods around Christmas time seem to taste extra delicious. I have long wanted to make these cookies and finally had the time today – and boy are they good, a perfect way to celebrate the end of the school year for my sister and my first year uni results which were released today 🙂

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Ingredients (makes approx. 36 cookies)
100g butter
1 ½ cups brown sugar
1 tspn vanilla extract
2 eggs
100g dark chocolate, melted
1 ¼ cups flour, sifted
2 tspns baking powder, sifted
¼ cup cocoa, sifted
1 tablespoon red food colouring (depending on strength & desired colour, mine could have been a bit redder)
150g extra dark chocolate, roughly chopped
¼ cup sugar
¼ cup icing (powdered) sugar

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Method
Place butter, brown sugar & vanilla in a large bowl and beat with an electric mixer for 3-5mins or until light and well combined. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the melted chocolate and beat until combined. Slowly add the flour, baking powder, cocoa and food colouring and beat until a smooth dough forms.

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Fold through the chocolate chunks and refrigerate, covered, for an hour.

Preheat oven to 160°C fan-forced. Roll dessert spoons of the dough into the white sugar, shape them gently into balls and then toss in icing sugar. Place them on lined baking trays allowing plenty of room for spreading.

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Bake the cookies for 12-14mins or until the surface is cracked and the edges are slightly crispy. Don’t worry if the centre of the cookies looks undercooked, it will harden while cooling and be deliciously chewy. Enjoy!

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Adapted from the Red Velvet Crackle Cookies recipe in the Donna Hay Magazine Dec/Jan 2014

Peanut Butter Cookies with Chocolate Chunks

Published on by Elise BLeave a comment

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Wow! These cookies are to die for. Based on a Curtis Stone recipe I found in LA last year (but waited until SwotVac to try for procrastibaking purposes), these cookies are so ridiculously chewy and chocolatey and perfect that even the sun wanted in (photographic evidence above and below). Warning: highly addictive.

Ingredients
1 cup flour
½ tspn baking soda
1 cup crunchy peanut butter
1 cup brown sugar
125g butter, softened
1 ½ tblspns honey
1 large egg
1 tspn vanilla extract
155g dark chocolate, roughly chopped

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Method
Preheat oven to 180°C (160°C fan-forced) and line 3 large baking trays with baking paper.

Sift the baking soda and flour into a medium bowl. Set aside.

Using an electric mixer, beat the peanut butter, brown sugar, butter, honey, egg, and vanilla in a large bowl until well combined.

Stir the dry ingredients into the peanut mixture in 2 additions.

Stir in the chopped chocolate.

Scoop a heaped teaspoon (so that it is about the size of a ping pong ball) of dough for each cookie onto the prepared baking sheet (spacing so there is room for spreading).

Bake for about 7 minutes, or until the cookies are starting to turn golden but are still soft to the touch.

Cool the cookies on the tray for 5-10 mins (this is where they will harden slightly) and then transfer to a cooling rack or eat warm.

Makes around 36 cookies, provided you don’t eat too much dough (not that I would ever do that or anything).

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Recipe from Curtis Stone