Peanut Butter & Nutella Sandwich Cookies

I can't believe that it's the third week off Bake Off tomorrow and I haven't joined in with any baking this time around. I used to bake at least once or twice a week around the themes, but I guess that's how I came to put on half a stone each series! Thank goodness for kids who will quite happily eat my baking, especially at the moment when it doesn't happen very often.

It's bread week this week so I don't know how I'm going to resist the smell of freshly baked bread if I decide to join in, as it's so hard to stop at just one slice. Ohhh, why does the food that tastes so good have to be so bad. 

It was hard to resist one of these cookies when I took them out of the oven, but a little disaster put paid to that when I knocked a glass of water over the baking sheet and ended up with around half of the biscuits getting wet and looking like they had been dunked in tea for too long. Thankfully I managed to salvage enough for the photos, which meant there was one each for the husband and kids, and none for me, hurrah! You may also notice that some of the cookies are a little on the scorched side - this, I blame the oven for! The fan broke on my main oven a little while ago, and since then the heat distribution within the oven seems to be a touch on the unpredictable side, to say the least. I really should get the repair man out..

The cookie recipe calls for only three ingredients, making them extremely easy to make, and an ideal recipe to bake with children. In fact the first time I made these cookies I made them with my youngest when he was just two, and then last year I used the recipe to make Halloween spider cookies. This time I filled them with a creamy Nutella filling, which also had just three ingredients.

Rhubarb and Custard Viennese Whirls

Great British Bake Off is back, and as I've been away for the first two episodes I haven't managed to join in with any baking until now. I may still bake something from the first episode (the kids are pretty keen on me making Jaffa Cakes) but I'm making no promises, especially as I'm keen to shift some holiday pounds and not put more on!

As I didn't have much time this weekend I chose to make Viennese Whirls, as iced biscuits are definitely not my forté, and there was no way I was going to attempt a gingerbread creation with only a few hours of free time available.

To my knowledge, I've only made Viennese Whirls (or it might have been fingers) once previously, and I'm sure it was when I was in my late teens. I don't remember it being particularly tricky so I was surprised that so many of the bakers on the show had trouble with them. After looking at a few recipes online I decided to go with the Mary Berry one, but I think I was feeling a little complacent and only refrigerated my unbaked biscuits for a few minutes, which resulted in them being a little flatter than I'd hoped, once baked. The dough was quite stiff to pipe too, despite my butter being very soft, so my 'whirls' didn't look too pretty.

With little time to spare, I decided that I would give the whirls to the kids to eat (who absolutely loved them) and bake a second batch, which would hopefully hold their shape better. This time I adapted a recipe for Viennese Fingers that I found in '1001 Cupcakes, Cookies & Other tempting treats', which calls for the use of caster sugar instead of icing sugar. I also rummaged around in my baking equipment for the largest star nozzle I could find, which seemed to help immensely with the piping, and placed the unbaked biscuits in the freezer whilst the oven was preheating. Having only a small amount of butter left I only made 8 biscuits (4 sandwiches) but have doubled the quantity in the recipe here.

Rhubarb & Custard Viennese Whirls - makes 8

200g butter, softened
100g caster sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
180g self raising flour
30g custard powder (not the instant stuff)

filling
home made low sugar rhubarb jam
100g butter, softened
200g icing sugar
2 tbsp custard powder
1 tbsp water
1 tsp vanilla extract

• beat the butter and caster sugar together until creamy
• beat in the vanilla extract
• sift the flour and custard powder in, and mix well to combine
• fill a piping bag, fitted with a large star nozzle, with the mixture
• pipe swirls approx 4-5cm in diameter onto a baking sheet lined with baking paper
• place into the freezer for 20 mins whilst the oven preheats to 160C
• Bake for 12-15 minutes until starting to brown on the edges
• leave to cool on the baking tray
• make the buttercream by beating the butter with the icing sugar
• mix the custard powder with the water and vanilla extract and beat into the butter/icing sugar
• beat until the buttercream is pale and smooth
• spoon a teaspoon of jam onto one biscuit and pipe some buttercream onto another, before sandwiching together
• repeat with the remaining biscuits

I am joining in with the Mummy Mishaps Great Bloggers Bake Off, and Treat Petite which is joint by The baking Explorer & Cakeyboi & hosted on The Baking Explorer this month

Spiced Apple Biscotti with Caramel Sauce & Crumble Dip

Whilst I've made cookies and biscuits lots and lots of times, I've never made Biscotti. I think I've only actually eaten it once too, and that was whilst on holiday in Italy and I'd bought some from a bakery. I was really disappointed that it was so hard, and not at all like I'd expected it to be. That bad experience has scarred me for the past 10 years, and however tempting the biscotti looks I never buy it, and instead settle for something that I know won't disappoint.

As it was biscuit week in the Great British Bake Off tent this week I knew I had to make biscotti, as I really didn't have the time to be making a biscuit box or puff pastry, and biscotti didn't seem to be too difficult.

After watching the show on Tuesday night I wished that I'd made my biscotti beforehand, as everything was so tense and I started to wonder if biscotti was more difficult than I thought.

First of all I decided to make some gluten free biscotti (recipe coming soon) to give away to a friend, modifying a recipe from one of my cookery books, and then modified it again to make this spiced apple flavour. I think I underbaked a little on the the first bake as the dough towards the centre was still a little soft, but I'm guessing that the baking time will differ depending on the added ingredients. I'm hoping that when I make biscotti again they will turn out a little neater, and more uniform in size - I don't think Mr H would've been happy with how these looked!

The kids loved them, and the warm caramel sauce softened the biscuit up a little, but I discovered later on that a quick dunk in strong black coffee before dipping in the caramel was even better. Afterwards I thought that maybe I should've made a custard instead of the caramel, to give it that real apple crumble and custard flavour, so maybe next time I'll do that.

Spiced Apple Biscotti with Caramel Sauce & Crumble Dip

Biscotti

250g plain flour

1 tsp baking powder
150g caster sugar
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

2 medium eggs

150g dried apple

• Mix the flour, baking powder, sugar, spices and vanilla together in a large bowl
• Add the eggs and mix together until it forms a dough
• On a lightly floured surface, knead in the apple
• Cut the dough in half and roll each half into a fat sausage
• Lay the dough on a floured baking sheet and bake in a preheated 160C oven for approx 30 minutes
• Allow to cool for 10 minutes 
• Slice each log into 1cm slices, on the diagonal
• Return to the oven and bake for a further 15 minutes, until lightly browned
• Allow to cool on a wire rack

Caramel sauce - I used carnation caramel this time, but have a recipe here for caramel sauce if you would prefer to make it

Crumble dip

100g plain flour (tip from my dad is to use Gluten free flour for a more crisp crumble!)

50g butter

50g caster sugar

• rub the butter into the flour until it resembles breadcrumbs
• stir in the sugar
• bake in a preheated 180C oven for approx 20 minutes, until lightly golden
• allow to cool fully and crisp up

modelled so well by my 14 year old

Florentines and Cheddar & Herb Biscuits

The Great British Bake Off is now well underway and week two saw bakers making savoury biscuits, Florentines and 3D biscuit scenes. The first time I ever saw a Florentine was when was 15 and working my Saturday job in a bakery - for £1 per hour. You could be mistaken into thinking that working in a bakery from a young age was where my baking interest stemmed from, however, the only time I came into contact with any cooking was when someone ordered a bacon sandwich and I would have to go out the back and fry it in the sandwich press.

I never actually tried a Florentine for a good few years afterwards, I was a little wary of them back then, probably something to do with the fact that barely any were ever sold and when we closed up at the end of the day they would go in the cupboard ready to be sold on the Monday, so goodness knows how many times that tray of Florentines had been in and out of that cupboard.

According to Mary, Florentines should be crisp, but I quite like the chewiness of my version. They hold their shape but don't 'snap' in two - maybe a few more minutes in the oven would do it. Despite the lack of snap my Florentines barely lasted a few hours, with the kids and their friends inhaling them.

Florentines - makes 12
50g golden syrup
50g butter
50g caster sugar
50g plain flour
50g flaked almonds
100g sultanas
150g milk or dark chocolate

• Add the syrup, butter and sugar to a saucepan
• Heat on a low heat until butter has melted and sugar has dissolved
• Stir in the flour, almonds and sultanas and mix well
• Line a baking sheet with non stick paper or silicone sheets
• Spoon heaped teaspoons of mixture onto the baking tray, spaced well apart
• Bake in a preheated 180C oven for approx 8 minutes
• Leave to cool for 10 minutes on the tray before transferring to a wire rack to cool fully
• Once fully cool, melt the chocolate in the microwave on short bursts
• Coat the underside of each florentine with chocolate and allow to set

I quite fancied all of the savoury biscuits that the bakers made on the show last week, and they would be great on a Christmas cheese board. I played it quite safe with my cheddar and herb biscuits, made with mature cheddar cheese and fresh rosemary and lemon thyme from the garden. Now these definitely did have a snap, and were very buttery and moreish, a bit like a cheese straw.

Cheddar & Herb Biscuits - makes approx 18 biscuits

100g plain flour
100g cold butter
100g mature cheddar cheese, grated
1 tbsp chopped fresh herbs - I used rosemary and lemon thyme

• Rub the butter into the flour
• Mix in the cheese & squeeze together in your hands to form a smooth ball of dough
• Wrap in clingfilm and place in the fridge for 30 minutes
• Roll out on a floured surface to approx 3mm-4mm thick
• Using a cutter, cut discs from the dough, re rolling as necessary to avoid waste
• Place on a greased baking sheet
• Bake in a preheated 200C oven for approx 10-12 minutes
• leave to cool on a wire rack

Savoury and sweet biscuits together would have made a lovely afternoon tea, however shortly after this picture was taken the biscuits were all snapped up by the kids, and taken to a friends house for a bake off taste test of their own.

Take a look at all the other Great British Bake Off inspired bakes in The Great Bloggers Bake Off on Mummy Mishaps.

Cooking With Your Toddler - Iced Lemon Cookies

This is a recipe from the Ocado website, a very simple one, in fact so simple that we didn't even use the Kitchen Aid. The butter was very soft though as it had been left out whilst we went shopping so it didn't need much beating.

150g Butter
150g Caster Sugar
1 Egg, beaten
Zest of 1 lemon & juice of half 
350g Plain flour

To decorate
juice of half a lemon
icing sugar
sprinkles - we used Dr Oetker Stars, Polka Dots & Soft Shimmer Pearls *

• Beat the butter and sugar until creamy
• Add the egg, lemon juice & zest & beat well
• Stir in the flour until it starts to come together and then use your hands to bring together. (Add more flour if it's too sticky.)
• Wrap in clingfilm & refrigerate for half an hour - or in our case 10 minutes in the freezer

• Roll the dough to about 1/2 - 1cm thick & cut out shapes
• Bake in a preheated 180 degree (C) oven for 8-10 minutes
• Transfer to a wire rack & cool 
• Mix enough icing sugar into the lemon juice to form a thin paste
• Spread icing over the biscuits & decorate

The June Cooking With Your Toddler linky will open on 1st June and close on 30th June. Please feel free to link up your posts with the theme of Cookies & Biscuits. 

Cooking With Your Toddler has now moved to it's own dedicated blog here.

Please vote for me

* We were sent the Dr Oetker decorations for the purpose of a review

Cooking With Your Toddler - June - Cookies / Biscuits

I haven't done much baking with Jack recently so I thought it was time to revive Cooking With Your Toddler. It would be a bit ambitious of me to think that we'll be able to do it every week so I've decided to post a Cooking With Your Toddler post once a month and open a new linky up each month for you lovely lot to include your posts. I'll post a theme for the month and you can link up with your cooking posts along that theme until the end of the month. 

For the month of June the theme is Cookies / Biscuits

You can either post your own recipe or feel free to use one of the recipes in the old Cooking With Your Toddler linkys here. Either way you will need to be cooking with a toddler to join in with the linky. (although if you don't have a toddler a child of any age will do - they don't even have to be yours!) 

Cooking with your Children is a great way to spend quality time together and it doesn't have to be as stressful as you may imagine. For a first timer no bake recipes are a great idea, as well as weighing out your ingredients before you get your child involved. If you want to make cookies without much hassle then you could make the dough in advance and keep it in the fridge until you want to use it.

Cooking With Your Toddler has now moved to it's own dedicated blog here.

Cooking With Your Toddler (and a few more) - Stained Glass Window Cookies

I posted a recipe a couple of weeks ago for Spiced Christmas Cookies that I had found on Fabulicious Food. When I agreed to go into Jack's Pre-school to make Christmas Biscuits with the children I decided to use this recipe again as it's so easy to make and rolls out really well with the minimum amount of flour - which would mean less mess, or so I thought!


I decided to make the dough beforehand in my Kitchen Aid as I didn't fancy mixing all that dough with a table full of impatient 2,3 & 4 year olds around. The little ones took turns in rolling out the dough and cutting their chosen shapes, we then used smaller cutters to cut a shaped hole in the middle of the cookie where we spooned in crushed sweets which melted in the oven and created a colourful stained glass window effect in the middle of the biscuit that the fairy lights can shine through.

It was a very enjoyable but hectic morning where, at one point, I had 8 pairs of eyes watching me and 8 little mouths asking for a go and 8 pairs of hands playing with whatever was to hand. Two of the children (with my Jack as the ringleader) decided that their part of the table needed extra flour and they enjoyed playing in their mountain of 'snow' until it was their turn to roll some dough.


We ended up with some great looking cookies which I tied a piece of ribbon through and wrapped them in cellophane bags - all ready to sell at the Christmas Fair and hang on some Christmas Trees.

Stained Glass Cookies


110g unsalted butter 
110g soft, dark brown sugar
6 heaped tablespoons runny honey
1 egg
450g plain flour 
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 tablespoons ground ginger
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon 
2 tablespoons cocoa powder
100g icing sugar
boiled sweets, crushed - I used pear drops

• Melt the butter, sugar and honey in a small pan until the butter has just melted
• Sift all the dry ingredients into a large bowl, stir together
• Add the egg and mix well
• Add the melted butter/sugar to the dry ingredients and mix until a dough forms
• If the mixture is too dry add water 1 tablespoon at a time until it comes together 
• Roll out on a floured surface to the thickness of a pound coin
• Use cutters to cut out the shapes and place on greased baking trays (I use silicone baking sheets)
• Use a smaller cutter to cut a shaped hole in the centre of the cookie, fill with crushed sweets
• Bake in 200 degree (C) oven for 7-8 minutes
• Leave on the baking sheet for a few minutes until they harden up & then cool completely on a wire rack

Crushing the sweets

Not a tidy workspace!

Mess left by Jack!

Cooking With Your Toddler - Christmas Tree Biscuits

Last week we made Pudsey Bear Biscuits for Children In Need. As the recipe made quite a large amount I cheated slightly for this week and saved half of the dough and kept it in the fridge to make Christmas Tree Biscuits this week.


Here is the recipe that we used :

Christmas Tree Cookies

225g Butter, softened

225g Caster Sugar

500g Plain Flour

4 Large Eggs

1/2 tsp Vanilla Extract

1 tsp baking powder
1 - 2 tsp mixed spice (optional)

To decorate

Coloured mini chocolate beans (or coloured icing)
Christmas sprinkles
Gold & silver balls

Icing sugar mixed up to a paste with a small amount of water(or melted white chocolate)

• Cream the butter and sugar together until pale & fluffy
• Add the eggs & vanilla
• Sift the flour & baking powder together and add to the wet ingredients
• Mix until well combined
• Chill in the fridge for at least 1 hour
• Preheat the oven to 170 degrees C
• Roll out the dough on a floured surface to approx 5mm thick and cut out Star shapes - of varying sizes. We used a set a star cutters that we reviewed previously from Procook.
• Bake in the oven for 10-12 minutes until golden. 
• Allow to cool on a wire rack.
• Use the icing or melted chocolate to stack the stars starting with the largest at the bottom.
• Decorate with icing and sprinkles/silver & gold balls.

These biscuits rise quite a bit and are quite thick, I think next time we will use a shortbread recipe, like the one we previously used with the star cutters. They looked great anyway and went down well with the whole family. 

         

Jack decided he wanted to make some biscuits of his own with some spare dough - what do you think? I can see a pig, a duck & macka packa in there!

Please come and look at other bloggers great recipes in the Linky below and feel free to add your own. The linky is ongoing.