Twelve Weeks of Christmas Cookies: Week One

Yes, it's about twelve weeks till Christmas time.  I decided to start this up again since I had so much fun with it last year.  This recipe is originally from The Vegan Table, but I have adapted it a little since I am not vegan.  I really love these cookies and it will be a recipe that I'll make time and time again.  I took a couple to work and a workmate commented that they looked and tasted so Christmassy without me even telling her they were baked with Christmas in mind. The almond extract really gives it a distinct almond flavour and I love the spices.  They're also incredibly easy to make. Enjoy!

Chai-Spiced Almond Cookies

113g butter, softened

30g icing/powdered sugar + more for dusting

1 cup coconut flour

1 cup almond flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon cardamom

1 teaspoon allspice

1 teaspoon cinammon

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 teaspoon almond extract

Cream butter and sugar.  Add extracts and spices and beat in well.  Sift in coconut flour and beat again.  Add in almond flour and mix in with a metal spoon.  Roll dough into tablespoon-ful balls on a baking sheet.  Bake for about 20 minutes at 180 degrees celcius.  Remove from oven and let cool for about 5 minutes before rolling in icing sugar.

Week One, 12 Weeks of Christmas Cookies bakers:

Peppermint Slice

The good thing about this slice is that it is pretty rich so you can't have too much of it at a time. It tastes like something you would purchase at a fancy cafe and it is so easy to make! The original recipe calls for real cream, but I didn't have any so I used coconut cream.

lightly adapted from Foodtown Magazine

Base

150g butter, softened

½ cup sugar

1½ cups flour

¼ cup cocoa

½ teaspoon baking powder

Filling

100g butter

1½ cups icing sugar

1½ tablespoons coconut cream

1 teaspoon peppermint essence

200g dark chocolate

Preheat the oven to 180°C. Line an 18cm x 28cm pan with baking paper. Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Sift in the flour, cocoa and baking powder. Mix together until combined; I used my hands to mix in the last bits. Press the mixture into the base of the prepared pan. Bake for 20-25 minutes until firm. Set aside to cool.To make the filling, cream the butter and icing sugar until light and fluffy. Stir in the coconut cream and peppermint essence. Spread the mixture evenly over the cooled base.  Put in freezer for 60 minutes.  You can refrigerate it but I found that when I did, the melted chocolate melted the peppermint filling a little and it didn't finish as well.  Melt chocolate in a bowl over a saucepan of boiling water and spread over the peppermint filling evenly.

Linked to:

Lemon Poppyseed Cupcakes

My co workers birthday was on Friday just gone, and instead of buying her a gift (I'm broke anyway.... or perhaps just cheap LOL) I decided to bake her a batch of cupcakes. She doesn't tend to eat goodies like this on a day to day basis which is probably why she keeps her slim figure, but I knew she would make an exception for her birthday.

This recipe is from a book called "Cupcakes: The Complete Edition"

It has no author that I can see (weird) so perhaps it's a compilation from several cooks. Who knows, but the recipe was fantastic so cheers to the original cook who came up with these. My co worker really enjoyed them and appreciated the fact that I made her something. I mean, really, the best gifts are hand made aren't they??

Lemon Poppyseed Cupcakes

125g butter, softened
1 cup caster sugar
2 eggs
125g greek or plain yogurt
2 cups self raising flour
1 tsp poppy seeds
juice of 1 lemon
grated lemon rind of 2 lemons

Frosting
1.5 cups icing sugar, sifted
125g butter, softened
juice of 1 lemon
1/2 tsp poppy seeds

Preheat oven to 160 degrees C.  Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy then add eggs and beat until well combined.  Add in flour, yogurt, poppy seeds, lemon juice and rind and beat for a further minute or two.

Spoon into muffin tins lined with paper cups and place in oven for 18-20 minutes.  Remove from oven and let cool completely before frosting.

To make the frosting, combine all ingredients into a bowl and beat until light and fluffy.  Spread onto each cupcake with a butter knife.

C'mon, bite me....

.....you know you want to

Twelve Weeks of Christmas Cookies: Week Five

I thought I was going to go in a different direction this week, but I guess I just haven't got spices out of my system.  Okay, I lie... I forgot a key ingredient from the store on what I was going to make (don't you hate that!) so I fell back on another idea I had planned for the future.  I didn't lie totally though, I really don't have spices out of my system.  I have only truly begun to appreciate them in the last year or so while broadening my horizons with cooking and baking.  What better way to feature a spice in it's own cookie.  Not a common spice in baking, but I've read it is a common spice in Indian cooking and used in Nordic countries.  The cookie itself is super simple to make with just a few ingredients. I bring you this week Cardamom Cookies....

Glazed Cardamom Cookies

Cookie Ingredients

125g unsalted butter

1/4 cup brown sugar, firmly packed

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1 heaped tsp ground cardamom

1 cup flour

Glaze

1 cup icing/confectioners sugar

1-2 Tbsp hot water

1/8 cup shortening

8-10 drops food colouring (optional)

Place butter, sugar and vanilla extract in a bowl and beat until light and fluffy.  Sift cardamom and flour over sugar and butter mixture and stir until combined.  Place dough between non stick paper and roll out to about 0.5cm thickness.  Cut out dough with cookie cutter shapes of your choice and re-roll dough scraps.  Again cut out with cookie cutters and repeat until all dough is gone.  Bake in oven @ 350F for 10-12 minutes.  Remove from oven and let cool.  To make the glaze, place all ingredients in a bowl and beat until smooth. Brush glaze onto each cookie and decorate with cachous or sprinkles.  The glaze of course is optional, the cookies are perfectly tasty on their own! Makes 15-20 cookies.

Make sure you see what everyone else has made for Week Five:

Twelve Weeks Of Christmas Cookies: Week Three

Another chocolate cookie recipe for me this week. No surprise in the middle this time, just a chocolate cookie with a twist: a chili twist! Sounds a bit weird but I promise you it's good. What better way to warm up around the Christmas tree than indulging in a cookie hidden with a warming spice like chili? This recipe was inspired by a couple of things. I had never heard of chili and chocolate together until I moved to Australia and worked next to a gourmet sweet store. They used to sell an array of gourmet chocolates, one of which was a little chocolate infused with chili flavour. My work mate used to absolutely love this chocolate; I used to turn my nose up at it until she made me sample it one day. Wow.... wonderful! 

Source

The second thing that inspired me was Lindt's new chili chocolate. It's not exactly new new, but it came out a couple of years ago here and it's probably one of the only chocolate bars I buy regularly.

Source

Anyway, enough chatting...onto the recipe!

Chili Chocolate Cookies

2 cups of flour

2 tsp baking soda
1/4 cup cocoa
50g dark chocolate

1/4 tsp salt

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp* chili

3/4 cup butter

1 cup sugar

1 egg

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

a few Tbsp sugar

red food colouring

*You can use anywhere from 1/2 tsp for a slightly warming flavour to 1 tsp for a definite chili finish.  I wouldn't go below 1/2 tsp though

Method

Preheat oven to 350F

Prepare decorating sugar by placing a few tablespoons of white sugar in a small bowl and adding a few drops of red food colouring. Mix until it is evenly distrubuted.

In a clean bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Crack in the egg and add vanilla extract then beat until smooth. Sift dry ingredients into a separate bowl and mix until well combined. Add dry ingredients to butter and sugar mixture and combine with a metal spoon. Shape the dough into balls approx 1.5-2" diameter.

Smear a dab of butter all over the bottom of a glass, then dip the glass in the red sugar. Use the glass to flatten each ball of dough slightly, dipping again into the sugar each time.

Place in the oven for 10 minutes. Remove and let cool.

 Voila!

Here's what everyone else got up to in the kitchen this week, for Week Three:

Twelve Weeks Of Christmas Cookies: Week Two

Chocolate Cherry Surprise Cookies

1/2 cup unsalted butter

1/2 cup sugar

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 cup flour

1/4 cup cocoa powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

15* glace cherries

Method

Preheat oven to 350F

In a bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add egg and beat again until smooth. Add vanilla extract and beat in until combine. 

Sift all dry ingredients into a separate bowl. Add dry ingredients to the sugar and butter mixture and mix with a metal spoon. The next part is the messy part; using a spoon, put a small blob of the chocolate batter between your fingers and flatten slightly. With your thumb, make a small hollow and place one cherry in the hollow. Using your fingers, gather up the sides of the batter around the cherry, then cover the cherry with extra batter. Roll the batter between your palms to make a smooth ball then place on a non stick baking sheet. Repeat until all your batter is gone.

Place in the oven and bake for 10-11 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool before dusting with powdered sugar.

I love the pattern the powdered sugar leaves behind

*Approximately. The above mixture made 15 cookies for me, but depending on how large you make the balls you may need more or less. I had both green and red glace cherries, but I only used the red ones this time. For an extra Christmas-y feel, use both the green and red cherries: the Christmas colours.

I didn't make a frosting for this cookie because I didn't think it really needed it.  The glace cherry in the center made it sweet enough.  I was toying with the idea of a chocolate brandy frosting, but decided to leave it as is.

After Work Report:  I came home from work today after leaving the cookies in the bread bin and they had almost all been eaten!  My husband left me two out of the fourteen that I left there.  They must have been very good :-P

Here's what everyone else made this week:

Twelve Weeks of Christmas Cookies: Week One

I've joined a baking group which is right up my alley: 12 weeks of Christmas Cookies.  Yes folks, it's just over 12 weeks till Christmas!  The deal is to bake whatever you wish for 12 weeks every Friday, starting from October 1st till 17th December.  Ideally what you bake will be Christmas themed, well, that's what I'm going to try and stick to anyway so watch out for all my Christmas serveware featuring in the photos!

My first attempt was a recipe I've been wanting to try for a while.  I almost made it one time, but I passed the name by my husband and he kinda crinkled his nose up at it, so I made something else that time instead. Today, I decided this was the cookie I was going to make.  The recipe looks very Christmas-y to me as it is loaded with spices. The end is a buttery, spicy, crumbly scrumptious cookie that just melts in your mouth.  Even though the name suggests it might be quite savoury, the taste of pepper is so sweet and delicate. Yum.

I present to you Spicy Pepper Cookies!

Spicy Pepper Cookies

225g butter at room temperature

90g soft brown sugar

1 tsp vanilla essence

1 tsp lemon rind

200g flour

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp cardamom

1/2 tsp allspice

1/2 tsp ginger

1/2 tsp nutmeg

3/4 tsp ground black pepper

3/4 cup ground almonds

1/4 cup whipping cream

powdered sugar

Sift the flour, baking powder and spices together in a clean bowl. In a separate bowl, cream butter and sugar.  Add vanilla extract and lemon rind to butter and sugar mixture and combine.  Add a small amount of the dry ingredients to the creamed butter and sugar and mix until combined, then add a small amount of the whipping cream to the mixture and combine.  Repeat, alternating until both are finished, starting with the spiced flour and ending with the spiced flour.  Add in the ground almonds and mix till combined.  

Form small balls from the cookie batter and place on a non stick baking sheet.  Bake cookies at 350F for about 15 minutes.  Remove from oven and cool on a baking rack for a couple of minutes before dusting with powdered sugar.  Makes about 20 cookies - dare I say 12g of fat each! Yikes!!

Week 1 Twelve Weeks of Christmas:

Pumpkin & Coconut Loaf

Adapted from Vegweb

1 cup unsweetened coconut
2 cups flour
1 tablespoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup milk

1 egg

2 tablespoons canola oil 

1/2 cup mashed cooked pumpkin

3/4 cup sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Toast coconut in a dry skillet/frypan until browned. In a bowl mix dry ingredients together, including the coconut.  In a separate bowl, whisk wet ingredients together.  Mix together with a metal spoon.  Pour into non stick loaf pan and bake at 350F for about 45 minutes.  Your baking time will vary depending on your oven.

 The Result

The Verdict

The flavour of this loaf is very subtle.  I thought with a whole cup of coconut in the ingredients it would have a very strong coconut flavour, but it doesn't.  I would suggest if you do want a strong coconut flavour, to add a little coconut extract to the recipe.  The texture is very nice and the loaf is quite moist.  In some parts, the coconut can give the loaf a dry feeling, but it's just the pieces of coconut.  I think next time I might add a little spice to it to bring out the flavour of the pumpkin.  Even more pumpkin and less milk might be nice: I suggest increasing the pumpkin to 1 cup and decreasing the milk to 1/2 cup.

Rocky Road Cookies

Adapted slightly from Vegweb

 

Not the traditional type of rocky road as it doesn't have peanuts.  I didn't have any peanuts and I like almonds better so they found their way into the recipe. 

1 1/4 cup flour

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

pinch of salt

1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup milk
1/3 cup halved almonds
1/3 cup chocolate chips (or chocolate chopped up)
mini marshmallows

Mix dry ingredients in a bowl (except for marshmallows). Cream butter and sugar. Add dry ingredients to butter and sugar.  Add milk. Mix with a metal spoon.  Using your hands form the dough into balls (approximately 16).  Press marshmallow (about 2 or 3) into cookie dough.  Bake at 350F for about 10 minutes depending on your oven.

That's what I'm talking about

Oaty Walnut and Cheese Scones

This weekend was quite a lazy one for me. I didn't end up going to work out on Sunday after all... I ended up sleeping in instead. We ended up going to the bar and having quite a few rounds of beer and great conversation, so I didn't feel like going lifting today either. I fully intended to do some cardio in the evening but then it started pouring with rain. Tomorrow is another day!

I have been having some good eats though! Despite my training being rather dismal, my diet has been quite good (minus yesterday's beer of course). I've been counting my calories faithfully and making sure I get enough protein. For the past two days we've been having Oaty Walnut and Cheese Scones for breakfast, taken from Gordon Ramsay's book, Healthy Appetite. I never even thought of this combination but it is GOOD! Yesterday I served it with scrambled eggs and today I served it with a light fruit salad topped with creamy vanilla yoghurt and raw almonds *drool*

Here's the recipe.

Oaty Walnut and Cheese Scones

Heat oven to 180 degrees C. Put 350g self raising flour into a large bowl and stir in 2tsp baking powder, 1 tsp fine sea salt and a pinch of cayenne pepper. Dice 60g butter and rub into the flour mix using your fingertips until it resembles fine crumbs. Stir in 150g rolled oats, 100g grated mature cheddar and 100g chopped walnuts. make a well in the center and add 2 beaten large eggs and 9 tsp buttermilk. Mix until the dough comes together, adding a little more buttermilk if needed.

Gently roll our on a lightly floured surface to a 2.5cm thickness and stamp our rounds with a 6cm cutter. Place, slightly apart, on a baking sheet, then brush the tops with milk and sprinkle with 1tsp rolled oats. Bake for 15-20 minutes until golden brown. Serve warm with soft cheese and chutney. Makes 10-12.

Tonight for dinner I made roasted chicken with roasted veggies. It was so good and the chicken was sooo tender and tasty! I seasoned it with olive oil, sea salt, cracked pepper, five spice and dried herbs. The veggies were basted with the chicken juices and I sprinkled paprika on the brussel sprouts. Nom nom....