Ginger crunchies

These ginger crunchies are somewhat different from the other biscuits I've made so far during my biscuit bake off. To start with, the recipe requires crystallised ginger, custard powder and cornflakes. The custard powder gave the biscuits a slightly 'short' texture. I was worried that the crystallised ginger taste would be overpowering but they were absolutely delicious!

The method is pretty much standard but I found that I needed to press the cornflakes into the mixture during the final stage as rolling them had no effect. I got 22 biscuits from this batch which means that my 'rolling' must be getting better. ;-)

Ginger crunchies

Ingredients

• 125 g butter, softened
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 5 tablespoons custard powder
• 1/2 cup finely chopped crystallised ginger
• 1 cup cornflakes

Method

1. Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add egg and beat well.
2. Sift flour and custard powder together. Mix into creamed mixture. Mix in chopped ginger.
3. Roll tablespoonsful of mixture into balls. Roll in cornflakes. Place on a greased oven tray. Flatten with a floured fork.
4. Bake at 190°C for 20 minutes or until golden. Makes 25.

Ginger crunchies

Peanut brownies

I think these peanut brownies are the biscuits that my mother made when we were kids. As I continued my biscuit bake off tonight, there was something very familiar about this recipe and the taste proved it. Yum!

The yield for this recipe is much higher than the cookbook says. I was determined not to make the same mistake as with my hokey pokey pancake biscuits so carefully measured out the mixture with a tablespoon but still ended up with 30 large biscuits instead of the 20 medium sized peanut brownies I was expecting. Bonus!

Peanut brownies

Ingredients

• 125 g butter, softened
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 2 tablespoons cocoa
• 1 cup peanuts, roasted and husked

Method

1. Cream butter and sugar unti light and fluffy. Add egg and beat well.
2. Sift flour, baking powder, salt and cocoa together. Mix into creamed mixture. Add cold peanuts and mix well.
3. Roll tablespoonsful of mixture into balls. Place on greased oven trays. Flatten with a floured fork.
4. Bake at 180°C for 15 minutes or until cooked. Makes 20 (or 30).

Peanut brownies

Downton Abbey marathon

I was very late jumping on board the Downton Abbey bus. I was barely aware that the programme had started last year and guess I wrote it off as yet another period drama that I wouldn't have time to follow. Suddenly, it became the topic of water cooler conversation at work and by then I had already missed several episodes. Prime TV doesn't play programmes on demand so I couldn't just catch up and before I knew it, the season was over! Yes, such are my first world problems. It was Fatso to the rescue and we had a Downton Abbey marathon watching series 1 this long weekend.

Wow - I'm well and truly hooked! Downton Abbey is a superbly written British period drama with well developed characters, a glorious setting, beautiful costumes and a sterling cast. Set in the early twentieth century, Downton has everything: drama, scandal, in-house politics and definite pecking orders among the family and their servants. Thinly veiled courtesies mask resentment for centuries-old property laws upon which British aristocracy is built. It is a very human look at a period in time that does its best to present an honourable front at all cost.

I know that series 2 is currently playing on Prime but I'll probably wait for it to come out on DVD and have another marathon. In the meantime, I am trying to avoid Twitter at 8:30 pm on Tuesdays while it is playing on television, lest I accidentally leave myself open for spoilers.

What do you think of the Downton Abbey phenomenon? Are you on board?

Cheese scone obsession

I love cheese scones. My Twitter followers will know that Cheese Scone Friday is something I look forward to each week. I figure that if I've survived the week (particularly the nightmares I have been enduring recently), I deserve a treat on Fridays and a freshly baked cheese scone with my daily coffee does the trick.

Then there's my weekend coffee indulgence. I am lucky enough to live in an area where the supply of good coffee is plentiful and within just a few minutes' walk from home. If one of my regular cafés are full, I'm literally a minute's walk from another. That was very lucky today.

A friend who lives in Rotorua will drive to the other side of town for what she claims are the world's best custard squares. I thought that was a bit extreme until I realised today that I had walked out of one of my favourite cafés before ordering simply because they had run out of cheese scones. Even though their counter was filled with plenty of other yummy food choices, I wanted a cheese scone and nothing else would do. I found one further up the road and settled in with coffee and the Sunday newspaper before wondering if I'd developed a cheese scone obsession. Surely not?!

Apart from good coffee (which goes without saying), what food item would/do you go out of your way for?

Honey snaps

Part 3 of the biscuit bake off happened tonight with a quick batch of honey snaps. This is a small mixture that expands then flattens in the oven. I can honestly say it is one of the quickest recipes I have ever baked from go to woah! The biscuits are a bit too sweet for my liking (and I'm not much of a honey fan) but they will go well when dunked in a hot chocolate.

Honey snaps

Ingredients

• 50 g butter
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 3 tablespoons honey
• 1/2 cup flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

Method

1. Melt butter, sugar and honey together in a saucepan. Remove from heat.
2. Add flour, baking powder and ginger and stir until mixture is smooth.
3. Drop teaspoon lots onto a cold oven tray, leaving enough room for mixture to spread to double its size.
4. Bake at 180°C for 10 minutes or until golden. Leave on tray a few minutes to cool before removing to a wire rack. Makes 20.

Honey snaps

Gingernuts

The biscuit bakeoff continues! These gingernuts are very different in texture and taste to the singing variety (which resemble cardboard these days) and were very easy to make.

This time, I learned my lesson and only rolled tablespoonfuls of mixture into balls. It worked; I ended up with real biscuits instead of a flat cookie-imitating mess. I have also discovered that there is a big difference between the cooking time and 'just another couple of minutes' - golden cookies can become decidedly dark in a very short time! They still taste great, though. :-)

Gingernuts

Ingredients

• 125 g butter, softened
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 3 tablespoons golden syrup
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 tablespoon boiling water
• 2 cups flour
• pinch of salt
• 3 teaspoons ground ginger

Method

1. Cream butter, sugar and golden syrup until light and fluffy.
2. Dissolve baking soda in the boiling water. Add to creamed mixture.
3. Sift flour, salt and ginger together. Add to creamed mixture, mixing well.
4. Roll tablespoonsful of mixture into balls and place on a greased oven tray. Flatten with a floured fork. Bake at 180°C for 20 to 30 minutes or until golden. Makes 25.

Gingernuts