Savoury blue cheese biscuits

I have a great weakness to Nigella L.’s recipes. As soon as I open her book I’m stroke with warmness and homely atmosphere you can see on each single page. When I was greedily looking through the newest edition of her book (polish translation was edited this year but original one is dated back in 2000) I couldn’t make up my mind and decide which recipe I should start with – everything looks tempting! Finally I have chosen blue cheese biscuits, which I seasoned my way. Can the snack consisting mainly of cheese and butter be bad?

Ingredients (makes around 40)
6 oz (175 g) blue cheese
3,5 oz (100 g) soft butter
1 egg yolk + 1 egg for glaze
4,5 oz (125 g) wheat flour
1,7 oz (50 g) corn flour
¼ teaspoon salt
freshly grinded pepper
freshly grinded nutmeg


Method
Combine cheese, butter and egg yolk and knead wheat and corn flour, salt and spices (you can also use a food processor). When the dough comes together, wrap it with clingfilm and let it rest in the fridge for 30 min. Roll out the dough to roughly 0,25 inch/ 0,5 cm in thickness, and cut out any shapes you want. Put them on to a lined baking sheet and glaze them with the whisked egg, also you may sprinkle them with pepper or cumin. Bake for 15 minutes until golden brown.

Granola bars

I really love healthy desserts! Although to make those granola bars you need to use butter, they are still healthier than a bag of candies, don’t you think? I feel much better when I know I just have eaten nuts, dry fruit and granola!


Ingredients (make 12 granola bars)
2 cups oatmeal
1 cup dry fruit (raisins, apricots, cranberries, pineapple…)
¼ cup nuts (i.e. walnuts)
5 tbsp butter
4 tbsp honey
2 tbsp wholemeal flour
¼ teaspoon cinnamon
¼ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon vanilla essence


Method
In a saucepan melt butter and honey. Pour the melted mixture over the dry ingredients mixed in a bowl. Spoon the mixture into a lined cake pan (about 10 inch/20 cm) and press down. Bake for about 25 min. at 360F/ 180 oC. Cool before cutting into bars. The easiest is to cut the bars with a bread knife.

Cheerios? No cookies!

My last visit in a supermarket ended with a nice surprise! The surprise was in a discount items basket, cost 2,50 PLN and was made in Italy: silicon cookie pan. So cute, one-bite cookies! I used the vanilla madalen’s recipe to make them.

Ingredients (make 3 cookie pans)
2,5 oz (65 g) oil
1 large egg
2,5 oz (65 g) wheat flour
2 oz (50 g) sugar
0,5 oz (15 g) vanilla sugar
pinch salt, pinch baking powder


Method
Mix egg with sugar until fluffy. Continue stirring add oil, sieved flour, baking powder and baking soda. Bake until golden brown at 360F/ 180 oC.

Gingerbread cookies

No one will be surprised with baking December’s gingerbread cookies. Frankly speaking I made them a first time in my life. Until now each year my Grandmother made gingerbread for Christmas. The real one, staying in a stoned jar for weeks before Christmas. This year we’ll also make those traditional ones but for this very moment: quick ginger cookies. Strongly gingerbread and delicious!

Ingredients
3 cups wheat flour
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ cup soft butter
½ cup sugar
2 teaspoons ground ginger
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
½ teaspoon salt
1 egg
½ cup honey
¼ cup molasses or maple syrup


Method
In a bog bowl mix all dry ingredients. In another mix butter with sugar until fluffy. Add egg and gradually add the dry ingredients, mix everything. Slightly knead the dough. Wrap the dough in a plastic bag and place in a fridge for about 1 hour. After 1 hour roll out the dough, cut out the cookies. Place the cookies on a lined baking tray, put aside for another 15 min. in a cold place. Bake at 360F/ 180 oC until golden. Baked cookies keep their shape.

Ruby eye Christmas cookies

Those cookies are just revelation! Nicely melt in a mouth and a drop of a filling balances their sweet flavor. Wrapped in a cellophane can be a pretty Christmas present!

Ingredients
2 ¼ cups wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
1 cup butter
2/3 cup sugar
2 egg yolks
lemon zest of 1 lemon
1 teaspoon lemon juice
drops of vanilla aroma
about 6 tbsp fruit preserve


Method
In a bowl mix dry ingredients: flour, baking powder and salt. In another bowl mix soft butter with sugar until fluffy. Add lemon zest, lemon juice, vanilla and egg yolks. Gradually add the remaining ingredients, the batter may remind a crumble but don’t worry it’s still elastic and easy to shape. Shape a spoon size balls with a hole in a middle, made with your own finger or the end of wooden spoon. Place all the cookies on a lined baking tray, bake in preheated oven to 360F/ 180 oC. In a meantime heat up a fruit preserve, it should be liquid. After 10 min. take the cookies out of the oven, put some preserve into the cookie holes and place the baking tray back in the oven, bake for another 7 min., until golden brown. When cooled down sprinkle cookies with powder sugar. With a finger dipped in a hot water clean the spot with a preserve from the powder sugar.... and enjoy!

After Christmas chocolate cookies

After the Christma’s Eve dinner attractions today I suggest you something small. Almost no one feels like having another helping of a layer cake but for a small cookie you will always find a room.

The recipe is from ‘Moje wypieki’ website.

Ingredients
3,5 oz (100 g) powder sugar
7 oz (200 g) soft butter
2 teaspoons milk
1 medium egg
3 teaspoons vanilla sugar
pinch salt
2 oz (50 g) dark chocolate, grated
10 oz (270 g) wheat flour


Method
Sieve powder sugar. Chop butter. Beat the butter with sugar until fluffy. Gradually, continuing stirring add milk, vanilla sugar, salt and egg. Gently add grated chocolate and flour. Place the batter in a pastry bag with a star shape tip. Put the batter trough pastry bag onto prepared baking tray. Bake at 360 F/ 180 oC for about 15 min. ( for the first 2 min. bake cookies at 380F/ 190 oC on a top oven rack). Cool on a cooling rack.

Ginger cookies

The kitchen is open! After three weeks of fighting with dust, paint and plaster the redecoration is over! The waiting list of recipes to make is very long: I kept them in all my pockets and in the diary. First: ginger cookies! I made them in a max version: one cookie as a dessert! In the beginning soft but with a time getting harder. Both versions worth a sin!

Original recipe is from sandwichhoss.worldpress.com

Ingredients
¾ soft butter
1 cup sugar
1 egg
3 tbsp honey
½ cup chopped, candied ginger
orange zest of 1 orange
1 cup wheat flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon gingerbread seasoning


Method
Mix butter with sugar until fluffy. Continuing stirring add an egg and honey. Add ginger and orange zest. In another bowl mix dry ingredients (flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, gingerbread seasoning). Gradually add the dry ingredients to the butter mixture. Using an ice-cream spoon place the cookie batter on a lined baking tray, leave spaces between cookies (you can fit 9 big cookies on one baking tray). Bake for 13 min. at 340F/ 170 oC. Slightly cool down the cookies before taking them off the baking tray. Leave to cool on a cooling rack. Keep the cookies in a sealed box.

Soft cranberry and oatmeal cookies

I really don’t remember a weekend during which I haven’t baked something sweet. In a Sunday afternoon I felt very strange knowing that there’s nothing sweet cooling in a fridge and nothing baking in an oven. I took few ingredients and made oatmeal cookies. Soft, with cranberries and raisins.

Ingredients (make about 25 cookies)
4 oz (110 g) soft butter
3 oz (90 g) brown sugar
1,5 oz (50 g) white sugar
1 egg
3 oz (85 g) wheat flour
4,5 oz (125 g) oatmeal
2,5 oz (70 g) dry cranberries (or cranberries and raisins)
¼ teaspoon cinnamon
¼ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Method
Mix butter with both kinds of sugar until fluffy. Beat in an egg. In another bowl mix flour, salt and baking powder. Combine the dry ingredients mixture with the butter mixture. Add oatmeal and cranberries, gently mix all ingredients. Place a ball shaped cookies (about ¾ spoon of batter each) on a lined and drizzled with water baking tray. Leave about 5 cm distance between cookies. Bake for 10 min. at 380F/ 190 oC, take them off the tray immediately and cool down