Hit and miss: Martha makes good, then goes bad, Part II

This post is the part where she goes bad.

If you haven't read the little disclaimer at the beginning of the previous post, then I suggest you do. Just in case any Martha zealots out there decide that they need to defend her honour down to the last perfectly clove-dotted glazed ham and immaculately pressed apron. I know that a lot of you who have been defending Martha think I'm an absolute retard that is incapable of following a recipe, but I'm willing to overlook that.

If my problem is a matter of comprehension, then I admit, I am an idiot. But when parts of the recipe are missing, or there are omitted ingredients and inaccurate instructions, then I would like to know who the idiot really is? Her recipes can be at times lacking and at other times convoluted to the point of ridiculous. For someone who wants to make it easy for everyone to be able to cook and bake, she does a horrible job of it. And it seems that I'm not the only one who feels unanimously about the hit and miss factor in Martha's recipes.

This recipe is a little different in its degree of suckiness in that, it hasn't failed to include any vital instructions or ingredients, everything in the recipe was there, except for the flavour. It appears that Smitten Kitchen's Deb, also had the same problem with the recipe and many of the commenters on the Martha website feel the same way. I decided to make my own go of it, just to make sure their sentiments were in fact true, and lo and behold- the pretzels are as bland as cardboard.

And when I say they are like cardboard, this is no attempt at euphemism, they are literally as flavourless as paper. There isn't a hint of chocolate in these pretzels, and be careful not to over-bake them even the slightest amount, as they will turn into volcanic rocks- flavourless volcanic rocks. A bitter disappointment when the recipe is introduced as the "sweet versions of the salty snack".

Oh Martha, Oh Martha. How do you get away with this? How do you continue to publish such rubbish without even checking them first? But the good news is that, were not all doomed to never have the sweet taste of chocolate pretzels on our lips, someone did do their homework and came up with a chocolate pretzel recipe that works. Rivka of Not Derby Pie has redeemed us all with her version of choc pretzels that is proven to work and most importantly taste like chocolate.

Check out the better version here.

The version I have posted below is the original Martha version, just because this is the one I used to make the pretzels pictured above. But I actually would not suggest making them unless you are willing to make some changes. Better yet, just click over to Rivka's recipe and have all the work done for you!

Chocolate Pretzels
Recipe from Martha.com
Makes 24 small pretzels

¼ cup unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder
1 tsp good-quality instant espresso powder
3 tbsps boiling water
110g (½-cup) unsalted butter, softened
¼ cup granulated sugar
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
½ tsp coarse salt
1 large egg
2 cups plain all-purpose flour
1 large egg yolk
coarse sugar (like demarara or pearl) for sprinkling

Stir cocoa and espresso powders into the boiling water in a small bowl until dissolved; set aside.
Meanwhile, put butter and granulated sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment; mix on medium speed until creamy.
Mix in vanilla and salt.
Reduce speed to medium-low.
Mix in egg, then cocoa mixture.
Gradually add flour, and mix until a smooth dough forms.
Turn out onto a piece of plastic; pat into a square.
Wrap dough, and refrigerate until cold, about 30 minutes.

Divide dough into 24 equal pieces.
Roll into balls. Shape balls into 12-inch-long ropes.
Twist each rope into a pretzel shape. Space 1 inch apart on baking sheets lined with parchment paper.
Preheat oven to 160ºC.
Whisk egg yolk with 1 tsp water in a small bowl.
Brush cookies with egg wash; sprinkle with sanding sugar.
Bake cookies, rotating sheets halfway through, until dry, about 15-20 minutes, depending on the size of you pretzels.
Let cool on sheets on wire racks.

NOTE: Cookies can be stored in airtight containers at room temperature up to 1 week.

Hit and miss: Martha makes good, then goes bad, Part I

First of all, I would like to preface the next two posts with a reminder that everything said on this blog are my own personal views and judgements. We all have them, they are called opinions, everyone's entitled to one. And in the free world that we live in I don't think anyone should get nasty comments or emails when you do not agree with the personal statements made by another person. I'm all up for healthy, civil discussions, but if you want to get all spiteful and bitchy then may I suggest you call Ricki Lake or Maury.

Now that's been said let's get back to our normal programming...

There it goes again, that precarious thing that teeters to and fro on a delicately balanced see-saw of emotions- that is my relationship with Martha's recipes. That see-saw teeters more so on the side of loathe rather than love but my disdain for Martha is not at all unfounded. For lack of a more gracious way of saying this, frankly some of her recipes suck.

Thankfully not all of them suck and thankfully for you, you won't have to be reading a tirade of Martha gibes today. No, I'm saving that for the next post, hoorah for free speech! Anyway, let's not get sidetracked. Here is another Martha recipe that has worked for me. Brilliantly in fact, it almost seemed unnatural to call it a Martha recipe. I must have a knack for picking all the dud recipes on her website and now am too paranoid to spend any money on of her cookbooks.

I would like to think that the recipes in her published books would be more fool-proof and complete, in comparison to the ones featured on her website. It seems that the uptake of recipes on the website is prodigious, although is a little light on the copy-editing and corrections. Most recipes are lacking important instructions and missing ingredients.

But, I did pledge an optimistic post on Martha today and here it is, her recipe for Molasses Sandwich cookies. They were a hit with everyone at a picnic we had earlier. The only thing I would fault is that the cookies are way too sweet. I mean wa-aaaay too sweet. The cookies are pretty sweet on their own but when sandwiched with a molasses filling in between, the sugar levels and diabetes inducing properties soar way beyond appropriate.

There's enough sweet in these babies to cause permanent tooth decay. So I would suggest reducing the sugar in the cookies by half and reducing the amount of actual filling by half also. That is what I did second time around and even then, the cookies aren't lacking in sugar. I think the presence of the molasses actually brings out the sweetness of the sugar even more, so I would err on the side of caution and ease up with the saccharine.

But with the right amount of sweetness, these sandwich cookies are the perfect thing to take with you to a picnic or a party. Your fellow pickinickers or party goers will thank you for bringing the party along with you. As these things have enough sugar to liven up any deadbeat gathering and will have guests potentially hanging off the chandeliers or perhaps doing a nudie run through the park. Now who wouldn't bake these just to see that?

So there you have it, another successful Martha recipe, this is the part in the title where Martha makes good. I've had a bigger share of misses than hits with her, although not documented on this blog, but this does take the hit tally up one.

Although coming up next: why there's more hate for Martha again than there is love. This is the part where she goes bad.

Molasses Sandwich Cookies
adapted from Martha.commakes 30 cookies

NOTE: this is the modified version using half the sugar from the original recipe. If you want to try the original, then just double to sugar for the cookies and double the ingredients for the filling.

1½ cups plain all-purpose flour
½ tsp baking soda
1 tsp ground cinnamon
½ tsp salt
½ cup packed light-brown muscovado sugar
110g (½-cup) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 large egg
¼ cup unsulfured molasses

FOR THE CREAMY MOLASSES FILLING
75g softened unsalted butter
1½ tbsp unsulfured molasses
1 cup icing (confectioner’s) sugar

Preheat oven to 180ºC.
In a small bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt; set aside.
In a large bowl, with an electric mixer, beat sugar and butter until combined.
Beat in egg, then molasses, until smooth.
On low speed, gradually add flour mixture until a dough forms.
Drop rounded measuring teaspoonfuls of dough onto two ungreased (or parchment-lined) baking sheets, about 4cm (1½-inch) apart.
Bake until centres are dry to the touch, 12 to 15 minutes; rotate pans from top to bottom and front to back halfway through.
Cool 1 minute on baking sheets; then transfer to a rack to cool completely.



MAKING CREAMY MOLASSES FILLING
Whisk butter with molasses until smooth.
Gradually whisk in icing sugar, until smooth and spreadable.
Makes about 1 cup.

Spread a rounded measuring teaspoonful of Creamy Molasses Filling on the flat side of a cookie; place another cookie on top, and gently press.
Repeat until all cookies are filled.
NOTE: Cookies can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature up to 1 day, or refrigerate up to 3 days (cookies may soften during refrigeration).

Biscuits With Bite

When I look back on the earlier months of this blog I was surprised at how prodigious I was at turning out post after post. There was one month where I posted a whopping 25 entries, which to me now seems unfathomable and seeing as how the number of posts per month have now dwindled to less than half of that record number, I am quite surprised how much free time I had to cook and blog. I guess I am a little more discerning on what I post about and noticed that I do not quite readily post about any old recipe I find on the back of a soup can.

Where did all that time for baking and blogging go?

I was judging the December DMBLGIT just last week and thought about when the last time I had this much time to just pore over more than 100 photographs. I was sitting there at about photo 31 and thought that this is really fun, just sitting here, all this time on my hands and no pressure to do anything with it.

And as I bit into my fourth, no wait fifth cheddar biscuit, I thought this is something I could really get used to- endless summer holidays, seemingly wasting hours on leisurely things. Even though our summer has been a little wayward, and somewhat recalcitrant, the summer holiday vibe has certainly set in. The days, although some are cloudy and bleak are definitely longer and the summer heat, although not as potent, makes it shorts and thongs (flip flops, for you Americans) weather all the way. If only there was a way of hanging on to summer and all this free time.

Well in the free time that I managed to garner during my break, I decided to make use of the nigella seeds that had been sitting in my spice rack for some time now, unopened and untouched. I have never used Nigella seeds in anything before, and prior to that all I knew of Nigella was of the celebrity chef. The first thing that stood out at me were the seeds' deep coal-black colour and it seems that it's name was derived from the Latin word nigellus, meaning black.

The seeds jet-black exterior can seem a little menacing at first, but when you actually put your nose to it, you will find a very delicate peppery fragrance that comes out of them. It is when the seeds are actually rubbed or ground that a more robust bouquet is released somewhat reminiscent of onion seeds.

The seeds are mainly used in the Middle East and India in certain spice blends and to flavour their doughs. And I actually do remember buying some naan bread at an Indian take-away with black seeds scattered on top of the bread. Although at the time I thought this was merely sesame seeds that were burned while baking in the hot tandoori oven. How I was wrong.

These biscuits were a nice change from the baking that I have been doing of late. Christmas tends to bring out the sweet and rich recipes but after Christmas your body is crying out for something lighter and less sugar-laden. These biscuits are perfect for tea time. Just the right amount of crumble when you bite into them and you can wash it down with your favourite tea, be it Green, Orange Pekoe or Russian caravan.

The apple chutney that accompanies the biscuits is entirely optional, although it is quite a cinch to make. Just place all the ingredients in a saucepan and off it goes. The spiced green apple is somewhat like a chutney, it is flavoured with chilli and spices and a a great way to preserve a surplus of apples.

Just place a dollop of the spiced apples on the biscuits and you will find an explosion of flavour, sweet and savoury all at once. And what about the Nigella seeds in the biscuits? Well their flavour is quite mild but certainly adds a pepperiness to the biscuits that would be lacking with just the cheddar. The saltiness of the cheddar and the peppery taste of the Nigella seeds is a perfect balance of two flavours that usually go hand in hand.

Cheddar and nigella seed biscuits with spiced green apple
Adapted from Australian Gourmet Traveller
Makes up to 70



FOR THE BISCUITS
225g plain all-purpose flour
150g unsalted butter, coarsely chopped
100g vintage cheddar, finely grated
½ tsp nigella seeds
1 egg yolk

FOR THE SPICED GREEN APPLE
2 Granny Smith apples, cut into eight wedges and thinly sliced widthways
180ml cider vinegar
110g granulated sugar
3 star anise
¼ cup water
1 tsp sea salt
1 small red chilli, seeds removed and finely chopped

MAKING THE SPICED GREEN APPLE
Place the apples and ¼ cup vinegar in a small bowl.
Heat remaining vinegar, sugar, star anise, water and sea salt in a heavy-based saucepan over medium heat and bring to a simmer.
Add apple mixture and chilli.
Return to a simmer, reduce heat to low and cook gently, without stirring, for 1 hour or until liquid is almost reduced.
Cool and store in an airtight jar in the refrigerator until required.
Makes about 1 cup.

NOTE: Spiced green apple will keep for up to 1 month and can be substituted with a good-quality fruit chutney.

MAKING THE BISCUITS
Place flour, butter, cheddar and nigella seeds in a bowl and using fingers rub butter through flour until it resembles coarse breadcrumbs. Alternatively you can use a food processor.
Add egg yolk and mix until combined.
Turn dough onto a clean surface and knead gently until smooth.
Form into a disc, wrap in plastic and refrigerate for 1 hour.
Preheat oven to 180ºC.
Roll out dough onto a lightly floured surface until 3mm-thick and using an 4cm-diameter fluted cutter cut out shapes and place on oven trays prepared with baking paper.
Form remaining dough into a ball, roll and repeat.
Bake for 10 minutes or until golden.
Cool on tray for 5 minutes then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
Store in an airtight container for up to 1 week.
Serve biscuits with spiced green apple.

Me and Martha, tight, for Now

“So there you have it, Martha and I may see a friendship in the near future after all. I might have to test another disaster-free recipe from her to make that call…”

OCTOBER 2007

I never thought the day would come; after spouting some incredibly tepid reviews of Miss Martha’s recipes, who would have thought that a recipe for chocolate cookies could bring her back into the circle of trust?

I know, I know, I’ve been a bit hard on Martha, but when you sport a holier than thou persona, or at least espouse an image of perfection, then there are certain things you must live up to. Like perhaps having recipes that work? Or at least recipes that have even the slightest inkling of success. I have encountered one too many a Martha recipe that was an inch short of rivalling the disaster that was the Titanic. And it seems that I'm not alone in my sentiments.

I don't want to be the one that cries foul upon the hallowed empire of Miss Martha but it appears that not only are her Internet recipes riddled with errors and missing information, but many others have also testified about their lack of success with many of her cookbook recipes, too many in fact. Is a foolproof recipe too much to ask?

Am I being too harsh? After all, isn't Martha merely human? Well, that's probably debatable and could probably fill another post but one thing I can say is that I've found another one of her recipes that do indeed work. Eureka! I think I can probably even dedicate the remaining lifespan of this blog to finding Martha' recipes that do and don't work. It's almost addictive, like a game of roulette; since all her recipes are such a gamble, will I win or will I lose?

Well this time I can gladly say that it was a win for all. For Martha and for me, and it looks like this fractured relationship that is often times on the rocks than on steady ground could be on the mend. For now, Martha and I are tight. But just like a game of roulette can go awry at the throw of a die, you never know, Martha and I could be on the outs again.

Just like a pair of tempestuous lovers, our roller-coaster ride through her recipe bank is as tumultuous as any affair. Who knows how long I'll stick around. All I can say is I'm addicted to the gamble that are her recipes. But I guess that's enough about what I think of Martha and more about what I think of these cookies. All I can say is that, why didn't I come across these cookies earlier? Had I chanced upon them before my opinion of Martha could have been a lot different.

If this was the first recipe I came across, I wouldn't have been so irate about all the consequent bad ones I had to endure as this would have provided a sufficient buffer. But alas this is probably the eighth Martha-recipe I have attempted and so far only the second success, the first one of course were the the Carrot Cupcakes I blogged about earlier.

However, that said, who would have thought that what I stated a mere month ago would be coming to pass. There you have it, I road tested another Martha recipe and surprisingly it worked. These double chocolate cookies, are beyond good. If you like your cookies soft and chewy then this one is for you. And with the little milk chocolate bits inside, every bite has a meltingly pleasant surprise. Just crisp enough on the edges and gooey in the centre, these cookies are the perfect remedy for when you're in need of a pick me up.

Your man (or woman) may have abandoned you, you may have lost your job, perhaps your car has been towed away and impounded, and your dog could be in a cast after being run over by a truck, but if you have these cookies, you will get a little perspective and know that things could be worse.

And with Christmas just around the corner, what perfect way to bestow some Christmas cheer than with some chocolate love. Tie a festive ribbon around a stack of cookies and voila an instant present to please even the biggest Scrooge.

NOTE: Martha's original recipe called only for milk chocolate. I decided to include bittersweet and milk chocolate.

Double Chocolate Cookies
adapted from this recipe
makes about 3 dozen

1 cup all-purpose flour
½ cup unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder
½ tsp baking soda
½ tsp coarse salt
110g bittersweet chocolate (60-70% cacao)
110g milk chocolate, coarsely chopped
110g cup unsalted butter
1½ cups sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp pure vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 180°C degrees.
Whisk together flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt; set aside.
Melt bittersweet chocolate with the butter in a small heatproof bowl set over a pan of simmering water; let cool slightly.
Put chocolate mixture, sugar, eggs, and vanilla in the bowl and mix until combined.
Gradually fold in the flour in two batches until just incorporated.
Fold in chocolate chunks.
Using a 1½-inch ice cream scoop, drop dough onto parchment-lined baking sheets, spacing 2 inches apart.
Bake until cookies are flat and surfaces crack, about 15 minutes (cookies should be soft).
Let cool on parchment on wire racks.

NOTE: If needed cookies can be stored between layers of parchment in airtight containers at room temperature up to 3 days.

If you want a piece of some cookie making action then head over to Food Blogga's Eat Christmas Cookie event. And to sweeten the deal, if you participate you could be in the running to win a fantastic cookbook. Click on the link to check out all the details!

RELATED POSTS:
Martha, not what she's cracked up to be
Second Chance For Miss Martha

This Cookie's A Winner

Even though this is all wrapped up in pretty blue ribbon, no, this isn’t the surprise I was talking about before. I know some of you have been anticipating with bated breath what this surprise is. And I do hope that it eventually lives up to all this hype I have inadvertently bestowed it with. But I just have to find the time to make it, just for the simple fact that I don’t want to rush it. I only a have a small portion of the stuff, so I must be cautious lest I ruin it and have nothing to show.

So it will have to wait until later in the week, as I have a packed schedule these next two days filled with birthdays, dinners and soirées. It’s just as well that I love to eat (and drink), as I would tire of all these shindigs. But, alas, that surprise must wait. Don’t worry I am itching to create something new

But here is something I made earlier.

If you like all things pretty, then for me, lavender is usually what comes to mind; its delicate lilac blossoms, its fragrant aroma and it's beautiful velvety stems. It seems that when you add lavender to anything, it almost instantly becomes pretty. Lavender's allure has captured me again, and this time the creation isn't too far from what I had made before.

If you are thinking that the recipe looks familiar, then you have probably seen it before on Kelli's Lovescool. I adapted her recipe from her award winning recipe for Green Tea Sweets. All I changed was the green tea flavouring and replaced it with lavender, but other than that the recipe is based on Kelli's original creation. I am so glad that she decided to share the recipe with us, as I am making it my base shortbread recipe from which I will probably make other variations from.

What's so good about her recipe? Well not only is it so simple to make, but the shortbread keeps it shape even after baking. Some shortbread recipes I have made, I've found, loses certain details in it shape because the cookies tend to spread. The great thing about this recipe is that the shortbread barely, if at all spreads in the oven while baking and keeps their shape perfectly, and so allows you to cut some more detailed shapes from your dough.

As for the taste. Well, I have been looking for a "go-to" shortbread recipe, and for some time, I did settle on a Donna Hay recipe, but its long reign is over because Kelli's shortbread recipe has toppled Miss Hay's off the throne. It's amazing how the combination of flour, sugar and butter, in slight variations and ratios can create something completely different. As essentially, shortbread, like many other cookies, are a combination of flour, sugar and butter, but it's the different ratios of these ingredients that create something either genius or inedible.

This combination of flour, sugar and butter not only tastes incredible, but it's has been deemed worthy of the title of best bakery recipe. And I can see why. The original green tea recipe, I found, is quite adaptable and I can just imagine endless variations, this probably isn't the last you have seen of these cookies.

And if you are looking for ideas for favours or presents, I think these cookies even have the sophistication to be used for weddings and birthdays. That's if you have the patience and the time to make them and wrap them up in pretty little pouches. It is definitely worth all the effort though. It beats the classical, yet worn out sugared almonds on your wedding day, I'm sure your guests would be delighted to receives these cookies as a gift.

As far as shortbreads go, this one is hard to beat. Its blissful buttery texture that melts in your mouth, its aromatic sweetness and its frosted sugar-coating, it's the perfect thing to satiate any sweet tooth's appetite. And what better way to share some love than with a bunch of these cookies, it's as good as getting a bunch of flowers.

Lavender Shortbread
adapted from this award-winning recipe
makes 15 flower shapes



¾ cup (2.25 oz) icing (confectioner’s) sugar
1 tbsp dried lavender
140g unsalted butter, cut into cubes
1 tsp lemon zest
1¾ cup (8.5 oz) plain all-purpose flour
3 large egg yolks
1 cup granulated sugar (for coating)

Preheat the oven to 180°C.
Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Whisk the confectioner’s sugar and lavender together in a bowl.
Add the butter, lemon zest and lavender/sugar mixture to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix until smooth and light in colour.
Add the flour and mix until well combined.
Add the egg yolks and mix just until the eggs are fully incorporated and a mass forms.
Form the dough into a disk and chill in the refrigerator until firm (about 30 minutes).
Roll the dough out to 1.5cm thickness.
Cut the dough with a cookie cutter.
Toss each cut cookie in a bowl of granulated sugar to coat.
Place the sugar-coated cookie on a parchment lined pan.
Bake for 12-15 minutes, or until slightly golden around the edges.

A Cache Of Cookies Part III: Checkmate

THE WEATHER REPORT

If you have been reading the last few posts, you will have noticed that I have been chronicling this saga that we in Sydney have come to know as the weather. We’ve seen it all; being at the mercy of some sort of meteorological cataclysm, we’ve seen everything from rain to cyclones, to furious winds and even snowfall. After all the beating we endured in the last two weeks, it’s nice to see that rain clouds have finally been benched in favour of some sunshine. Although we’ve been told that this genial weather will be short-lived, it’s safe to say that sunshine is finally back in the game.


COOKIE COMES FULL CIRCLE

During all this bad weather, I started a so–called series of cookies from The Australian Women’s Weekly cookbook that I have been baking from while stuck indoors. So to cap-off this cookie trilogy of sorts, here is a recipe for cookies that comes full circle. Although these cookies are actually square, I use the same type of dried cranberries as I did in these first ones, but this time paired with chocolate.

These Chocolate and Craisin Checkerboard cookies are more of a novelty than a necessity I must say. It’s the kind of cookie you probably make more for the frivolity of its appearance than its taste. Not that there is anything terrible about the way they taste, the contrary in fact, although they are quite fiddly and time consuming and are probably the kind of cookie you make when you have exorbitant amount of hours to lazily spend baking at home. Something I did have lots of in the last week.

Chocolate goes surprisingly well with cranberries. I was quite skeptical at first, I don’t know why because the combination is without doubt mouth-watering. Although the time it takes to construct your checkerboards and get through the two rounds of refrigeration, then you will probably be happy to be eating anything, whatever it tastes like.

Aside from the time it takes to make these cookies, the rewards for this charming is fairly obvious. Just make sure you have some time on your hands to work with the dough.

Chocolate and Craisin Checkerboards
Recipe from The Australian Women's Weekly: Cookies
makes 30 checkerboards



200g unsalted butter
¾ cup caster sugar
½ tsp vanilla extract
1 egg
2 cups plain all-purpose flour, sifted
1 tablespoon cocoa powder
1 tsp orange zest
¼ cup finely chopped craisins
1 egg white beaten lightly

Beat butter, sugar, vanilla extract and egg in a bowl with an electric mixer until light and fluffy.
Stir in sifted flour in two additions.
Divide the dough equally in half and in one half mix in sifted cocoa and in the other half knead in lemon zest and craisins. Using a ruler, shape each batch of dough into 4.5cm x 4.5cm x 15cm rectangular bars.
Wrap each bar in baking paper and refrigerate for 30 minutes to an hour.
Remove bars from fridge and cut each bar lengthways equally into three slices, then cut each slice lengthways equally into three; you will have nine 1.5 x 1.5 x 1.5 slices of each dough.
Brush each slice of dough with egg white and stack alternate flavours together to recreate the log.
Repeat with second log. Refrigerate logs for another 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 180°C. Prepare a baking tray with parchment paper.
Using a sharp knife cut each log into 1cm-thick slices.
Place cut-side up on baking trays about 5cm apart.
Bake cookies for about 15-18 minutes.
Stand for 5 minutes before lifting the cookies from the tray.
Cool on wire racks.

A Cache Of Cookies Part II: On Days Like These

As the rains continue to pour over Sydney, it appears that most of the city has occupied itself in the business of talking about the weather. It has become somewhat of a national sport, where strangers who normally would have no business talking to each other find themselves engaged in conversation about the wild weather. While Sydney engrosses itself in a collective dialogue about climate conditions, predicted rainfall and dam levels, allow me to put my two bits in- in the form of biscuits that is.

With all this wet, dreary weather, what one desperately needs is a good dose of comfort eating, something to cosy up to on the couch and of you're lucky in front of a fireplace. Now if you are thinking, warms stews and hearty casseroles, then you are at the wrong blog. Although stews and casseroles are probably the perfect remedy for a cold winter's day, I am the kind of blogger that usually turns to something sweet on a day like this. On cold days, carbs are my best friend.

So another miserly winter's day is spent at the helm of an oven. As I write this post in my warmest winter woollies, there is a giant mug of tea at my side- a requisite for any cold day in my opinion, a plate of biscuits and some caramelised garlic bread just an arm’s length away, just waiting to be ripped apart. The bread is from the much-lauded Brasserie Bread in Botany Bay; quite a trip away from the suburbs, but their caramelised garlic bread is worth the traverse. Their garlic bread is made with a rustic style Italian dough with whole caramelised garlic pieces tucked in between layers of dough, then finished off with a varnish of garlic, pepper and balsamic vinegar glaze. I assure you it tastes a lot better than it sounds.

The biscuits are Lemongrass, Ginger and Sesame biscuits; a recipe adapted from the same book where these cookies were also from. Somewhere amidst the tea, the bread and the biscuits, is the succor required to endure this bitter reception into winter. The biscuits, if you haven’t already noted, are Asian-inspired, and after a quick glance at the list of ingredients you would be fooled into thinking that this is a recipe for an aromatic Thai broth. In particular, the lemongrass, ginger and cardamom all blend to create a wonderful spicy and fragrant biscuit that is almost likely to make you forget about what’s going on outside.

The thin layer of toasted sesame seeds on top provides a nutty contrast to the subtle sweetness of the cookie. This cookie isn’t as moreish as those other ones, and a couple of mouthfuls is enough to satiate your inner cookie monster and not to mention is a great reprieve for your hips.

The cookie dough also needs some time in the fridge to stiffen up for cutting. So it’s the perfect opportunity to make yourself a hot cup of whatever-you-fancy, perch yourself on the couch with a great book or a favourite TV show and wile away the wet weather indoors. When the weather is this tempestuous it’s good to have a solid plan B and these are just the thing.

Lemongrass, Ginger and Sesame Biscuits
Recipe adapted from The Australian Women's Weekly: Cookies
makes 38 small biscuits



125g unsalted butter, softened
2/3 cup firmly packed grated palm sugar
1 tsp ground ginger
½ tsp ground cardamom
½ tsp ground cinnamon
a pinch of ground nutmeg
a pinch of ground clove
2 egg yolks
1½ cups plain all-purpose flour, sifted
10cm stick fresh lemongrass, finely sliced

¼ cup sesame seeds
¼ cup granulated sugar
2-3 tbsp water

Beat butter and sugar in a bowl using an electric mixer until light and fluffy.
Beat in spices and egg yolks until smooth.
Stir in sifted flour and lemongrass.
Knead dough on a lightly floured surface until smooth.
Roll dough between two sheets of baking paper until 5mm think; refrigerate for 30 minutes to an hour.

Preheat oven to 160°C. Prepare a baking tray with parchment paper.
Using a cookie cutter, cut shapes out from the dough. Roll up remaining dough and repeat procedure.
Place on baking tray about 5 cm apart.
Bake for about 12-15 minutes.
Remove from oven and cool on wire racks.

While the cookies are cooling, make the sesame seed topping.
Toast the sesame seeds on the oven at 200°C for about 5 minutes. Watch carefully just in case they toast quicker than 5 minutes.
Remove from oven and allow to cool.
In a small saucepan over medium heat, dissolve sugar and water just until the sugar begins to turn brown, remove from heat.
Using a pastry brush, brush the tops of the cookies with the sugar syrup.
Turn the cookies, sugar side down onto the sesame seeds and make sure they are coated evenly. Return to wire rack to set.
After you have coated all the cookies with sesame seeds, use the remaining sugar syrup to gently coat the tops of the cookies to seal the seeds.

A Cache Of Cookies Part I: When Indoors

A week has come and gone, the heavens have opened, the sun has shone and the rains have returned. The city is once again covered in a mantle of grey clouds, and is perhaps bracing itself for another destructive run. The rains’ homecoming was at first received gladly, although now that it has left our state with a potential billion dollar clean up bill, we are hoping that Mother Nature eases up a bit. Bring on the rains but hold off the floods and gale force winds please. If only the weather was as easy as ordering a chicken chow mein at your local take away; but unfortunately we have to take what can get.

Now although it’s great that we are finally getting some rain, what comes with it isn’t always that agreeable. The temperature has dropped and it is officially freezing outside, the hems of my jeans always seems to get wet no matter how high my shoes are, the ground is eternally muddy and my hair in a perpetual state of frizz. Now it may seem that this is just a lot of whining and it probably is; so what then is one to do when one is not in the disposition to contend with the wet weather and all that comes with it? Well I say, you stay home in your frumpy house clothes, forget about glamming yourself up and going out, your mascara will probably melt in the rain anyway, so just stay indoors and bake up a storm of your own. Well that’s what I did anyway.

A few months ago, I bought an Australian Women’s Weekly cookie compendium aptly titled Cookies. I looked at it, read the recipes, intently pored over the luscious photography then became too overwhelmed by the amount of recipes I wanted to make. I don’t know if this ever happens to you but when I get a new cookbook, the visual and palatal stimulation sometimes becomes too much for my imagination that I have to take a pause and put the book aside and leave it for later. That is exactly what happened to this book, it was shelved until my senses could cope with the cornucopia of sweet sights and ideas.

Now the question was which recipe would I make first? Well it so happens that on this particular rainy day, my pantry was going through a stocktake and clen out that was long overdue. I found jars of vegemite and packets of biscuits that had expiration dates literally from another millennium. I don’t know why I felt the need to hold on to packets of Le Snack from 1998 but nonetheless they were stashed in there as though waiting to be used as rations after some sort of nuclear fallout.

But aside from displaying my adeptness at hoarding food like a squirrel, I found a packet of dried cranberries hiding behind an expired jar of Vegemite. So I decided to make a batch of Lemon and Craisin Cookies. Right now, I have this thing for slice and bake cookies. They are extremely versatile and you can keep some dough in the fridge if you don’t want to have an abundance of baked cookies hanging around that you can’t eat.

I did slightly reduce the amount of sugar in the recipe by half and used caster sugar instead just because I had run out of icing sugar and wanted to retain a little bit of the tartness from the dried cranberries without losing the flavour in all that sugar. The Craisins are in fact already slightly sweetened, so you really don’t want to be eating yourself into a toothache. The recipe below is exactly like in the book, however you can reduce the amount of sugar in the recipe and still get a sweet aromatic cookie.

When baked to cookies crisp up although still remain crumbly once you bite into them. The sweetness and perfume of the lemon and the tangy bursts of cranberry are one of the many reasons to make this recipe. I must say though that these little cookies are incredibly moreish, but it seems to me that I say this about almost every cookie I make. Either the cookies are in fact moreish or I am just a big glutton, I prefer to stick to the former but you be the judge. Here is the original recipe below.

Slice and Bake: Lemon and Craisin Cookies
adapted from The Australian Women's Weekly: Cookies
makes 48 cookies



250g unsalted butter
1¼ cups icing (confectioner’s) sugar
1 tbsp lemon zest, grated finely
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups plain all-purpose flour, sifted
½ cup rice flour, sifted
¼ cup cornflour, sifted
¾ cup coarsely chopped craisins
1 egg, lightly whisked

Beat butter, icing sugar, vanilla extract and lemon zest in a bowl with an electric mixer until light and fluffy.
Stir in sifted flours in two additions. Then add the egg.
Stir until the egg is incorporated and divide the mixture in half.
Knead each half on a lightly floured surface until smooth.
Roll each half into a 25cm log.
Wrap in baking paper and refrigerate for 1 hour or until firm.

Preheat oven to 160°C. Prepare a baking tray with parchment paper.
Remove one of the logs from the fridge and slice into 1cm discs.
Shape into neat circles and place on the baking tray about 3cm apart.
Bake cookies for about 15-20 minutes.
Cool on wire racks.

The Autumn Morning

As the morning breaks
Sleepy eyes pry open
Contemplating the day

Daylight awaits,
The traffic and sounds
Whispers and notions
Hints of commotion

Shades and hues
All waiting for cues
As the day urges to begin

The autumn leaves fall
Evergreens and leaves
All sounding their call

Yearning for beauty
Its beckon so strange,
Waiting and wishing
For something to change

I cannot help but think
That this feeling inside
this longing for something
just cannot abide.

So I give in to you, morning light
Arise and call out its name
You have me by the hand
Lead me wherever you please.

I am in your charge,
Crisp autumn wind,
Blow me to wherever you please.

Finishing a shift at 7 in the morning at different times comes different sentiments. There are those earnest longings for slumber, just craving to get some much needed shut-eye; and then there are those times, though seldom, that I greet the morning with expectation.You take a huge breath, the new day ahead and somehow it’s yours for the taking. As infrequent as this disposition is to me, I welcome it. I am not always this genial this time in the morning, my nature just doesn’t allow for it, thus I take what I can get.

So I finish work this morning, and due to certain misadventures from the night before- which I wont elaborate on- meant that I didn’t have my car and so needed to catch the train home. Admittedly, I usually hate catching public transport, especially so early in the morning, amidst the peak hour transit; although this time I was actually looking forward to it.

Perhaps it was in quiet veneration of the stillness of the morning, or just something purely out of character, because I am rarely this contemplative so early in the day; but I was eager to make the small detour home. Or perhaps it was the beautiful morning, I don’t know. It's funny how unexpectedly stunning the urban sprawl can sometimes be.

The morning fog was thick, shards of sunlight barely breaching through the misty air. Riding the train through the Harbour Bridge, its imposing iron beams were barely visible, almost as if we were just floating seamlessly though the foggy air. By the time I got to my stop, the fog had already cleared and the gentle warmth of the autumn sun was palpable. What made the journey home even sweeter was coming home to these biscuits.

I had forgotten that I had made them the day before and there they were waiting for me in the cookie jar- these little morsels of Lemon Lavender Sables. Lavender has such a calming effect and after doing a bout of night shifts, I knew that these biscuits were the perfect remedy along with a warm cup of tea. Blossoms are usually associated with springtime, although these biscuits are the perfect things to cosy up to on a mild autumn morning.

Full of flour and butter, these sables fall apart at the touch of your lips. It's the kind of biscuit that you never bite into unless you want a dune of crumbs to form on your lap. Delicate and light, it's hard to stop at just one. So I pry open the cookie jar, the scent of citrusy lavender hitting my nose immediately and there is nothing like it.

There is something about these biscuits that remind me of autumn, I cannot quite put my finger on it. This strange enchantment,whatever it is, has me spouting poetry and waxing lyrical about the morning. Really, when do I ever become quite as lyrical? Never. I will probably look back on this, a week later and cringe at the thought at how hospitable I was to the morning, but then again, I take what I can get.

Lavender Sables
adapted from a basic sable recipe from this book
makes 40 sables



225g plain all-purpose flour
25g cornstarch (cornflour)
1 tbsp dried lavender
200g unsalted butter, diced and at room temperature
100g icing (confectioner’s) sugar
2 egg yolks
pinch of salt

Sift the flour and cornflour into a food processor and stir in the dried lavender.
Add diced butter and sugar to the flour mixture.
Pulse for a few seconds until the mixture resembles coarse meal.
Add the egg yolks through the spout of the processor, while continuing to pulse the dough.
Make sure you do no over pulse the dough, and that it still should resemble coarse breadcrumbs.
Spoon the dough out onto a very lightly floured surface and divide into two portions.
Roll each portion out into a log and wrap in parchment paper.
Refrigerate for 2-3 hours or overnight if possible

Preheat oven to 170°C. Prepare a baking sheet with parchment paper
Remove 1 log from the fridge and cut the dough into 6mm discs.
Briefly knead the dough so that the discs stay together.
Place on baking sheet spaced 1-ince apart and bake for 10-12 minutes until just lightly browned on the edges.
Transfer sables onto a wire rack to cool.
Repeat process with second log.