Jubilee lemon shortbread with raspberry buttercream.

When Fleur over at Home made by Fleur announced that she was running a baking competition for the Jubilee I could not resist entering. Every cooking magazine or blog had been suggesting reams of ideas for Jubilee baking.

However they mostly seem to be cupcakes, victoria sponges with different coloured layers, iced biscuits or cakes decorated with appropriately coloured soft fruit. Don't get me wrong there is nothing wrong with the above, but I wanted to make something a little different for the Jubilee. I have been reading lots of american food blogs recently, which have been advocating piped royal icing decorations onto sugar biscuits. There were two things which put me off making these kind of biscuits. Firstly though these look amazing but I am always worried about how good they actually taste, kids love them the more icing the better, but for adults I always feel people prefer a slightly more dignified icing to cake ratio. Secondly having been an art scholar I always end up wanting to pipe a design way beyond my piping skills. And this proved to be no exception to the rule as I chose to try to recreate the Diamond Jubilee logo.

I therefore had a cunning plan, I piped my royal icing designs onto clear plastic there by allowing me to trace my pattern rather than having to work free hand. Once they were dry I carefully pealed them off and stuck them onto of my shortbread with a thin layer of white chocolate. I was initially worried that the white chocolate would be too sweet but having conducted a taste test it actually brought out the lemon flavour in the biscuits.

To make royal icing you mix icing sugar with egg whites until you get the required consistency and then add food colouring. For large areas you need to outline the area with a thicker icing and then fill it in with a thinner consistency icing some times know as flood icing. I made these with the same consistency through out.

For the shortbread, this supposedly makes about 30 4cm circles and I got 24 squares out if it.

pinch of salt
225g butter
75g caster sugar
275g plain flour
75g semolina
1 lemon zest

Preheat the oven to 160C. Beat together the butter and caster sugar until it is light in colour and an even consistency.

Beat in the flour, salt, semolina and lemon zest, then knead with your hands to form a soft dough. Put in the fridge for about 30 minutes before rolling. It is easiest to work with when cold if you have shaped the dough into a pancake shape rather than a ball.

Roll out the shortbread dough until its about 1/2-1cm thick. Cut out as many biscuits as you can, re-rolling and re-cutting any trimmings as you go. Place on a couple of greased baking trays and bake in the oven for about 35-40 minutes until they turn lightly golden.

For icing

175g softened butter
350g icing sugar
1 1/2 tbsp lemon juice
1 1/2 tbsp of raspberry jam

Beat the butter and icing sugar together until thoroughly mixed. Add in remaining ingredients. If you want a stronger colour you can add food colouring at this point.

To assemble cover the biscuits in white chocolate. If you need to assemble them a while before serving I would recommend icing both sides of the biscuits as this will stop the moisture from the filling making them sad. Next pipe a layer of buttercream, fill with fruit and complete with a second biscuit with a royal icing design on the top. I made larger ones as I used them as a pudding, I also trialled small ones which I stuck onto lolly pop sticks this worked equally well.

I have entered them into Fleurs Diamond Jubilee baking competition which she is running on behalf of Appliances Online.

Flourless Chocolate Cookies.

I have newly discovered pintrest, well when I say discovered I mean joined I knew I would become addicted to it so have been studiously avoiding all enticement to join. If by any slim chance you are at all interested in the things I like my account is pinterest.com/agagirls. I found this recipe on pintest and was instantly intrigued, as I am always looking for good gluten free recipes. The recipe originally came from the blog Chocolate and Carrots. I will admit that the recipe does seem a little strange but stick with it these work. They fall somewhere between a cookie and brownie and are seriously dangerous 'The velveteen bow' ate four. I think they would delicious as a pudding with vanilla ice cream in the middle and served with soft fruit.

3 cups icing sugar
2/3 cup cocoa
1/8 tsp salt
4 medium egg whites
1 tbsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups chocolate chips preferably dark as these are already quite sweet

Preheat the oven to 180C. Mix together the powdered sugar with cocoa powder and salt.
Whisk in the vanilla and egg whites. You should end up with a batter the consistency of thick brownie dough. Stir in chocolate chips. Spoon out large teaspoonfuls on to baking parchment, be aware that they do spread. Bake for 12-14minutes until the tops look like brownies and are beginning to crack. Leave them to cool completely on the baking trays. They should keep in an air tight container for three days, that is if they last that long.

Mississippi Mud Brownies.

I saw this recipe on an american blog which I stumbled across and thought that they looked amazing. I have adapted the recipe slightly to make them less sweet than the american version. I can testify that they taste as good as they look. Whilst I was making them I almost backed out fearing that the peanut butter was going to be gilding the lilly but it really works as the peanut balances out the slightly sickly taste of the marshmallows.


¾ cups Flour
3 Tbsp Cocoa 
½ Tsp Salt
125g Butter
1 cup Granulated Sugar
¾ Tsp Vanilla Extract
2 Eggs
100g Chocolate Chips
½ cup Crunchy Peanut Butter
2 cups Marshmallows Mini or Large 
½ cups Chopped And Toasted Pecans
150g Chocolate 


Preheat oven to 180C. Line an 8×8″ square baking pan with parchment paper. Combine flour, cocoa powder, and salt. 


In another bowl, beat together butter, sugar, and vanilla until creamy. Add the eggs one at a time. Stir dry ingredients into batter. Pour batter into prepared tin and spread evenly. Sprinkle with chocolate chips. Bake in preheated oven for 22-25 minutes.

When brownie is done, put peanut butter in the microwave to soften. This does seem like a lot of peanut butter but don't worry it does work. Pour this warm mixture over hot brownie and spread. Sprinkle the peanut butter covered brownies with marshmallows. Return to oven to bake for 3 more minutes, or until the marshmallows puff. Remove from oven and sprinkle puffed marshmallows with toasted pecans. Let the marshmallow cool. Then pour over melted chocolate and leave to set. When it comes to cutting them up in order to serve use a hot knife to melt though the chocolate and marshmallow as this will give you neater sides.

Chocolate Whoopie Pies with Marshmallow Icing.

It is the musicians 21st birthday so she and a friend thought it would be a good idea to throw a party. Subsequently 60 bottles of cava have arrived in our flat to help the festivities along. Now an occasion such as this cannot pass by without cake, however, I have visions of 100 portions worth of cake crumbs being liberally spread around the flat not to mention the icing. I wanted something to make an impact when carried in with cake fireworks on the top so a tray bake or the like was out (this turned out to be a bad idea as the fireworks set off every smoke alarm in our flat). I contemplated cupcakes but they have been done now and only really look good when displayed on cake stands which we don't have. So I settled upon whoopie pies. These seem to be the new thing. If you have never heard of them before then the easiest way to describe them it that they are like the top half of two muffins sandwiched together with some form of icing.

I decided to make three different flavoured varieties chocolate, chocolate and peanut butter and red velvet. I am only going to write up the chocolate ones at the moment but I will make the other ones again at another time. I will say though that they batters of each of the three varieties behaved slightly differently.

I followed the basic recipes in the Hummingbird cake book but have deviated with the icing as I didn't want to have to spend a fortune on fluff for the filling. I made one batch of the icing following the recipe and must admit that it was the best. I do love fluff it is just that it is £2.40 a jar in England and each batch of icing needs a whole jar. My attempts to replace fluff with melted marshmallows needs some more experimentation I fear. I would also suggest trying the marshmallow icing from the Primrose book as an alternative.

The photos of the ones I made for the party aren't very good as I suddenly realised I hadn't taken any pictures just as we were about to sing happy birthday. They were such a success that I have had to make another batch this weekend as my flatmates didn't manage to get to them in time. I had been reading about new ideas for valentines day and thought that as I was having to make another batch anyway I might as well have a go at piping them into hearts. I also added pink food colouring to the icing. They looked fantastic if I say so myself and I would advise piping all whoopie pies in the future. They looked much neater and it was much easier than trying to spoon out a sticky batter.

I have entered them into Cake Boule valentine baking ideas and Valentines hearts ideas on very good recipes.

Ingredients: For the Sponge

1 large egg

150g (5.5ozs) Caster Sugar

125g (4.5ozs) Plain yoghurt

25ml (1fl oz) whole milk

¼ tsp vanilla essence ( I used nomu paste)

75g (2.5oz) melted unsalted butter

200g (7oz) Plain Flour

80g (3oz) Cocoa Powder

¾ tsp bicarbonate of soda

¼ tsp baking powder

Filling:

170g (6oz) unsalted butter

280g (10oz) icing sugar

220g (8oz) vanilla marshmallow fluff

Method:

Using a mixer cream the egg and sugar until fluffy. Pour the milk, yoghurt and vanilla essence into a bowl and mix together. Then add this mixture in with the beaten egg an sugar. Finally add in the melted butter and mix. Sift together the remaining dry ingredients, add them to the creamed mixture and mix well on a medium speed. Place the batter mix in the fridge to rest for 20-30 minutes this is important I don't know the science behind it but i imagine the raising agents are reacting and it changes the consistency of the batter. Pre-heat the oven to 170C Roasting oven with a cold shelf. Once rested, spoon or pipe onto the baking trays making 8-10 mounds per tray. These need to be 2-3 cm spaced apart and around 3 -5 cm in diameter. A tsp full is about the right amount if you are spooning.

Bake for 10-13 minutes or until they spring back when touched. Cool before filling.

To make the filling beat the butter and icing sugar together. Once this is blended add the marshmallow fluff and then mix on a high speed until the mixture is light and fluffy. Place in the fridge for 30 minutes as this will firm up the mixture slightly.

I made them the day ahead and they kept very well. They are quite robust so would travel well if need be I imagine they could be posted as well.


I have entered them into Cake Boule valentine baking ideas, Valentine Hearts ideas on very good recipes,Baked with love bakeoff and What Kate Baked's Tea Time Treats.

Hazelnut Biscotti.

These were a last minute addition to one of my hampers. We always have masses of hazelnuts at home as there is a large tree in the garden so this seemed like a good excuse to utilise some of them.

250g plain flour
175g caster sugar
1/2 tsp baking powder
2 medium eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
pinch of salt
zest of 1/2 orange
100g whole hazelnuts
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon


Preheat the oven to 190C/fan 170C/374F/gas mark 5. 


Put the flour into a large bowl, then add sugar and baking powder, and a pinch of salt. Make a well in the center and stir in beaten eggs, vanilla extract, orange zest and hazelnuts.
Make a long thin shape with the mixture on a non stick baking tray.


Bake for about 20-25 minutes until pale golden and set.

Transfer the log to a chopping board and slice into 1cm thick slices, use a serrated bread knife.
Put sliced biscotti back onto the baking sheet and return to oven for 10 minutes until golden and dry. Leave them on a wire rack to cool and harden.

The recipe I based these on came from the Yummy-coffee-and-food blog.

Double Chocolate Chip Cookies.

The great food blogger cookie swap.

I have blogged about entering this event before, as I have been trying to perfect my attempts at cookie making in the lead up to the swap, they have never been my strong point. I was very pleased with the results in the end, I made double chocolate chip cookies from a Nigella recipe which worked perfectly. My biggest problem was defending them so that there would still be three dozen left to post. I wrapped them up like so in greaseproof and rafia.

Ingredients:


125g dark chocolate
150g flour
30g cocoa
1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
125g soft butter
75g light brown sugar
50g white sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 egg
350g chocolate chips

Method:


Preheat the oven to 170°C.  Melt the 125g dark chocolate. Put the flour, cocoa, bicarbonate of soda and salt into a bowl. Cream the butter and sugars in another bowl. Add the melted chocolate and mix together.
Beat in the vanilla extract and egg, and then mix in the dry ingredients. Finally stir in the chocolate morsels or chips.


The recipe says that this should make 12 but I have always found that it makes more like 18. Place the dough onto backing trays about 6cm apart. Cook for about 20minutes. A skewer should come out semi clean. Leave to cool slightly before moving to a wire rack in order to firm up.


These were the cookies which I received during the cookie swap: 

These were minted triple chocolate cookies. They were absolutely delicious but not what you were expecting at all when you bit into them. They were made with fresh mint rather than peppermint, which is a flavour I shall have to experiment with more. They were beautifully presented and survived the postage perfectly. They were sent by flex your food.

My last two batches of cookies arrived in the post today. Both survived their experiences of the royal mail delivery system and I must remember for next year that a pringles tube makes a very sturdy cookie container. The first batch did not contain any information as to what I should call them but I would describe them as a chocolate covered sugar biscuit. The chocolate that they were dipped in contained some kind of spices which left a wonderful flavour at the back of your mouth without being overpowering. I think it may have been chilli chocolate.They were kindly sent by Mrs Iles.

The final batch came from who was very worried that cookies were not her area of expertise she needn't have worried. They were yummy. They were white chocolate, macadamia and sour cherry. They were not straight flour but split with oats which made them feel healthier! They were kindly sent by Baking Making Etc.

Chocolate Chip Cookies.

This weekend is the Durham Black Tie Reeling Ball which like the ball in Edinburgh last weekend I was meant to be going to. However having broken my arm very badly in the summer I am still banned from all types of sport. So last night I put my essay off for a while longer and made a batch of these to send down to Durham. The recipe made about two dozen unfortunately only one dozen survived to this morning. I don't have much hope that the rest will make it to their destination intact. Nina and Lally this is what they looked like and if they don't turn up you know who to blame! I would also appreciate it if someone could bring my one boot which Nina accidentally packed in her suitcase back with them.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups Flour.

1/2 tsp Baking powder

3/4 tsp Salt

150g Butter

1/2 cup Light brown sugar

1/2 cup Granulated sugar

1 Large egg

2tsp Vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups Chocolate chips

1 cup of nuts (optional) 

Method:

Oven to 190C or second set of runners in roasting oven you maybe ok without a cold shelf but I would just watch them.

Cream the butter and sugars together, then beat in the egg and vanilla. Stir in the dry ingredients followed by the chocolate and nuts. Roll the dough into balls about 1-1 1/2 inches across and bake for 10-12 minutes. Don't put them too close as these do spread.

Peanut Butter Cookies.

This post is dedicated to Alice who is as Mabs would say a babe as she edits my essays. I made these to reward myself this afternoon after handing in 3000 words on newsprint in the 1640s fascinating or not as the case maybe. I am atrocious at making cookies as mine always spread to far and are never chewy so I thought I would start my quest for reliable cookies recipes with these. I must say that mine did not look as perfect as The Cultural dish's ones but they recipe worked perfectly and they tasted delicious.

Ingredients:

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
1 teaspoon salt
100g butter, unsalted
1 cup packed light brown sugar
1 cup sugar-1 cup crunchy peanut butter
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup salted, dry roasted peanuts.

Preheat oven to 180C or the second runners with a cold shelf in the roasting oven of the aga. Mix together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. In a separate bowl, cream the butter and sugar together. Beat in the peanut butter until fully incorporated. Mix in the eggs one at a time and then add the vanilla. Slowly mix in the dry ingredients a little at a time until fully combined. Once the batter is well combined, stir in the peanuts.

Roll the dough into ping pong ball sized rounds about an 1 inch to 1.5 inches across. Press each cookie dough ball down with a fork to create a crisscross design. If the fork sticks to the dough you can dip it in cold water before pressing it down onto the dough, this works really well. I did not get a very defined criss cross pattern as it was broken up by the peanuts next time I would chop the nuts to the same size as the pieces in the peanut butter.

Bake until the cookies puff up and the edges are slightly browned (9-11) minutes, and make sure to rotate the pan halfway through. Be aware that the cookies will not look fully baked when done, so do not overcook them.

Lola's Copper Biscuits.

I stumbled across this cookie swap on an american blog I'm afraid that I cannot remember which one but it is being organised Love and Olive Oil and thought that it was a fabulous idea so I entered straight away. There are two problems with this though: firstly being that I'm just a little bit of a perfectionist when it come to serving my food so I going to have to make so many batches to get three dozen I am happy with and secondly I am useless at making cookies. The always spread far to much and never end up being chewy. Oh well I suppose practice makes perfect. I thought I would start with a recipe I was given by a friend of my mothers. It was a recipe of her mothers and is apparently fail safe. Copper biscuits are essentially some where between a ginger bread and ginger snap. They have the flavour of a ginger snap but the chewy texture of a ginger bread man. If you are a biscuit dunker like me then these are the biscuits for you.

2 1/2 cups Self raising flour

1 cup Sugar

3tbsp Hot water

1tbsp Golden syrup

3oz Margarine

1 1/2 tsp Ground ginger

1 tsp Bicarbonate of soda

Pre heat the oven to 180C or in the aga the grid shelf in the bottom of the roasting oven with a cold self. Rub the margarine into the sugar and flour until you have the consistency of bread crumbs. Next add in the bicarb, ginger, golden syrup and the water. Bring together the mixture into a dough, roll the dough into walnut sized balls and put onto a baking tray. Bake for about ten minutes until golden brown.

For my christmas hampers I added chopped stem ginger to the basic recipe and then dunked them into dark chocolate.