Chocolate and Almond Biscotti

Mix 300g plain flour, 75g cocoa powder and 1 tsp baking powder in a large bowl.

Add 100g chopped plain chocolate and 50g chopped almonds.

In another bowl cream together 225g granulated sugar and 75g soft butter.

Gradually whisk in 2 eggs.

Stir the dry ingredients into the butter, sugar, egg mixture until you have a stiff dough.

With your hands make two logs about 12 inches long, flatten them slightly then place on a baking sheet.

Bake at 180 degrees for 45 minutes.

Leave to cool on the baking sheet for 10 minutes, then cut diagonally into slices, about 2cm thick.

Eat all of the yummy crumbs.

Arrange the slices on the baking tray and bake for a further 10 - 15 minutes until crisp.

Cool on a wire rack.

Coconut biscuits (in less than 20 minutes!)

Melt 100g butter and pour into a large bowl.

Mix in 1 heaped cup of self raising flour, 1 cup of sugar and 1 cup of dessicated coconut.

Mix in 1 beaten egg.

Beat for a minute or two.

Make into small balls with your hands (approx 18), slightly flatten and place on a baking tray. (Allow room for spreading.)

Bake at 180 degrees for 12 - 15 minutes.

Allow to cool on a wire tray - at least long enough that you don't burn your lips.

(That's quicker than walking to the corner shop!)

Enormous chocolate cookies with buttons

Melt 200g plain chocolate and 50g butter in a large bowl over a pan of simmering water.

Stir in 1 can (397g) of condensed milk and remove from the heat.

Allow to cool, then mix in 225g self raising flour.

Chill in fridge for 10 minutes or so.

Place large teaspoonfuls on a baking tray. Leave plenty of space to allow them to spread.

Press 2 or 3 chocolate buttons (stolen from children's lingering Easter chocolate stash) into each cookie.

Bake at 180 degrees for 15 minutes; the cookies will still be quite soft but will harden up when cooled.

Choc chip oat cookies

Today I had a helper in the kitchen.

Anthony likes to crack eggs.

He likes to mix.

He likes to get sticky hands.

 

But most of all he likes to eat cookies.

My birthday treat

 

After three days of eating healthily a birthday girl's gotta have Milionaire's Shortbread.

Swirly biscuits

Don't these biscuits look cool?

You make two flavours of biscuit dough, roll both into a rectangle and place one on top of the other.

Then you roll it into a sausage shape and leave to cool in the fridge for 30 minutes.

Cut into slices with a sharp knife and bake.

Tree biscuits

Don't my tree biscuits look yummy?

They are decorated with a star cut out of roll out icing, stuck on with glace icing.

Sables vanille

Sounds posh, but it's just the French version of shortbread!

These are little teeny biscuits where all the mixing is done by food processor.

Chop 115g room temperature butter into cubes, and blitz until creamy. Then add 50g caster sugar and 1/4 tsp vanilla extract and blitz again until mixed. Add 160g plain flour and give it another blitz.

You should have a crumbly mix like this.

Make it into a dough by pressing it all together, then roll into 2 long sausages - about 2 inches thick.

Sprinkle brown sugar onto your surface and roll the sausages in it.

Then chop into slices - about an inch thick.

Spread onto baking parchment and bake for 20 minutes at 180 deg c.

Perfect served with a mocha for that coffee shop experience!

The easiest biscuits in the world.

These are Delia's oat crunch biscuits.

It probably takes longer to open a packet of hobnobs than to mix these up and pop them in the oven.

And they are yummy!

Choc dipped mini viennese fingers

More biscuit practice...

Going...

going...

gone!

Three out of three children can't be wrong.

Chocolate and cherry oat cookies

I have decided I need to perfect my biscuit making. For some reason I've never really made cookies and things, but these were pretty easy so I'm inspired to try some more recipes.

Cream 125g unsalted butter (although I didn't have enough butter so used 75g butter and 50g margarine) with 125g caster sugar.

Add 1 egg, half tsp baking powder, 150g sifted plain flour and 125g porridge oats. Mix until evenly combined. Stir in 10g chocolate chunks and 100g choped glace cherries.

Put dessertspoonfuls of the mixture on a lined baking tray and flatten slightly. Space them out to allow for some spreading.

Bake for 12 - 15 minutes at 180 degrees. Cool on wire rack - they are soft when they come out of the oven but crisp up when cooled.

Apparently these are good for freezing, but I can't see many of them being left by the end of tomorrow!

Take some boring biscuits....

...and make them into Tiffin!

This is the only way I like to eat digestives! (Or rich tea!)

Melt 100g butter, 3 dessert spoons drinking chocolate, 1 dessert spoon caster sugar, 2 tablespoons golden syrup.

Stir in 200g bashed up boring biscuits and 100g raisins. (Actually I used 50g raisins and 50g choped prunes.)

Squash into square tin, top with melted chocolate (about 200g) and leave to set in the fridge.