cookies for teachers... (GF, TMX)

IMAG0178, a photo by brazen20au on Flickr.

yesterday i attempted making Lana's gingerbread for teacher gifts but unfotunately put in 2 tablespoons on bicarb instead of 2 teaspoons - bleh!!!! as i was out of ginger i decided to make the German cookies instead

they worked quite well. turns out the conversions to metric i had on the original recipe are WAY out! (1kg flour??!!! should be 450g lol) and i had to add a little xanthan gum for the gluten free version to work properly.

heat oven to 180/190'. line trays with baking paper

450g self raising or plain gluten free flour
225g brown sugar
1 tspn xanthan gum
1 tspn bicarb
1/2 tspn cream of tartar - ONLY if plain flour used

mix on speed 4-5 for around 10 seconds until well mixed and 'sifted'

add 225g soft butter

mix for around 10 seconds on speed 4 until breadcrumb like

add 50g treacle and 1 egg

mix for 2 minutes, closed lid, knead setting.  you may need to give it a stir half way through.

using a well floured board and rolling pin, roll out to around 3mm and cut out shapes. place on trays and bake for 10-12 minutes.

with the original recipe you could join them with jam but i think these are a little fragile for that. you could definitely ice and decorate them like gingerbread though :)

Jam Drops (GF, TMX)

it's been a long time since I last made these - around 2 years - so i decided to give them a try gluten free - they worked very well and finally! something all 3 kids will eat!!! lol

based on the recipe from Taste, made GF and doubled...

Gluten Free Jam Drops

250g butter, softened *
200g sugar or castor sugar
2 tspn vanilla essence
2 eggs
520g gluten free self raising flour or plain flour with 4-5 tspns baking powder added
plain flour, to dust
2/3 cup strawberry jam **

preheat oven to 180'c

put butter and sugar into thermomix and mix on speed 4 until light and creamy (you may need to scrape down) - around 20-30 seconds.

add vanilla essence and eggs and mix on speed 4 for another 20 seconds.

add flour and mix on speed 4 until combined - you will probably need to help it a little with a spatula as the dough gets stiffer.

roll teaspoonfuls into balls, flatten slightly and place on lined tray. when you've done a tray-full flour one of your thumbs or fingers (or the end of a wooden spoon etc) and create an indentation in each ball. fill with a small amount of jam.

bake for 15 minutes until just golden brown. leave on trays to cool.


I found that mine lasted in a tupperware container for 6 days! (usually i find GF cakes etc go dry very quickly)


* if my butter is straight out of the fridge i soften it by cubing, then putting in the thermomix on 37'c speed 4 for 20-25 seconds (any longer will melt it)

** if you make your own thermomix jam try making some runnier than usual, it's perfect!

Local Gluten Free Company

My mum just told me about this company, they make regular and GF cookies up at Jindabyne in the Snowy Mountains. They sound yummy! I am thinking we might take Rora to Monkey Mania in the next few weeks to test them (they have $5 entry on weekdays this month ;))

They are available across most of Australia, though in limited outlets.

Snowy Mountains Cookies

Weekender Cookies

just discovered i hadn't posted this to my blog yet, this is one i used to make a bit when i was younger and living at home (and had dad's cornflakes at hand lol). i think it might be originally from a 1980's women's weekly biscuits and cookies book...



125g (4oz) butter
1/3 cup sugar
1 egg
2/3 cup sultanas (seedless / golden raisins)
1 cup self-raising flour
2 cups lightly crushed cornflakes

Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add egg, beat well.
Fold in sifted flour and sultanas, mix well.
Drop teaspoonfuls of mixture into
cornflakes, roll lightly.
Place on lightly greased oven trays.
Allow room for spreading.
Bake in a moderate oven
(190-200’c, 375-400’F) 20 minutes.
Makes about 30.

Chocolate Chip n Cashew Cookies (GF, TMX)

based on a recipe from the Thermomix Everyday book - which has a terrible error in my copy, do NOT use the bicarb in them! - these aren't as good as my fave cookies of all times, but are much quicker and easier ;) the times and speeds below are out of the everyday cookbook as well and I remember they weren't right but I didn't write down the correct ones - will do that next time and update!

100g raw cashews
250g softened butter *
150g raw sugar
10g vanilla essence
2 eggs
300g gluten free plain flour **
pinch salt
200g chocolate chips (or block chocolate in chunks - use tmx turbo)

preheat oven to 190'c

place nuts in tmx bowl, chop on speed 4 until lightly chopped (maybe 3-5 seconds?)

add butter and melt for 30 seconds at 50'c on speed 3 (* my butter was straight from the fridge so I melted it for around 80 seconds)

add sugar and vanilla and mix for 20 seconds on speed 3

add eggs and beat on speed 3 gradually adding dry ingredients for up to 30 seconds.

add choc bits and mix for 10 seconds on reverse + speed soft (i think i had to use speed 3 or so to mix here)

drop teaspoonfuls onto trays and bake 10-12 mins

** i make my own using the recipe in the Gluten Free Wheat Free cookbook

Gingernut Biscuits (GF, TMX)

easily made gluten free from Trudy's recipe on the Thermomix Forum. These biscuits were so-so at first, but a day or two later were delicious and moreish!!! Geoff kept sneaking them behind my back despite trying to pretend they weren't really his thing LOL

when you're making gluten free biscuits it's much more successful to let the biscuits cool on the tray (i need more trays!!!) or they're too soft and will break up being transferred to a rack.

this recipe has a mild ginger flavour so you could add a little extra if you wanted for a stronger taste. on the forum there are suggestions of other variations. my version used raw sugar which worked just fine and probably looked much prettier on the outside!

be careful with the size of the balls of dough you put on the tray, and with how close you put them - or you'll end up with big square biccies joined together like i did LOL


GINGERNUT BISCUITS (Makes 4 dozen) Oven 180C

125g butter (soft)
130g raw sugar
1 tablespoon golden syrup
1 teaspoon bi-carb soda
1 egg - beaten
290g Gluten Free Self Raising Flour *
2 Teaspoons ginger powder

raw sugar for rolling

Place raw sugar, golden syrup & butter in TM. Cream for approx 3 mins on speed 4 or 5, scraping with spatula as you go.
Add egg & carb soda. Process for a few secs to combine and then add flour & ginger. Process for about 90 secs using the spatula to help.

Roll into 48 balls and then toss the balls into sugar. Place balls onto a greased or papered tray and bake for approx 12 mins or until golden brown.

These biscuits keep well in an airtight tin.


* i use the gluten free flour recipe in the Thermomix gluten free book, plus the gluten free baking powder mix.

Cookie's cookies!! (GF, TMX)

today i made Cookie's recipe from the Thermomix competition - Decadent Chocolate Biscuits. the dough (yes, i do LOVE cookie dough ;p) wasn't as nice as yesterday's but the finished product is mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm! the taste kind of comes out of nowhere to sock you one LOL

i had to make a ton of substitutions because i didn't have what the recipe called for, but they were still very good (going to be very hard to pick one)

here is my gluten free version:

Decadent Chocolate Biscuits
Ingredients
about 1/4 cup brandy (GF)
1 cup dried figs
100g GF milk chocolate
about 1/3 cup whole almonds
110g raw sugar *
150g butter
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 egg
300g gluten free plain flour
1tbsp cocoa
small amount milk if needed

Method
Chop figs on speed 6-7 until cut into smallish pieces. Soak figs in brandy for a few hours or overnight in an airtight container.
Preheat oven to 180ºC.
Place broken chocolate into TM bowl and mill for 4 seconds on speed 7. If you prefer chunkier chocolate check the chop earlier. Set aside in fig bowl.
Chop almonds for 4 seconds on speed 7. add to fig bowl.
place raw sugar in thermomix bowl and mill for around 10 seconds on speed 8.
Add butter, vanilla and egg into TM bowl and mix for 10 seconds on speed 5.
Add flour, cocoa and milk if needed, and with dial set to closed lid position, mix for 10-15 seconds on Interval setting until blended.
Add nuts, figs and chocolate and blend a further 7 seconds on Reverse + speed 4.
Place spoonfuls onto lined baking trays and cook for 10-12 minutes.
Allow to cool on trays, they will become firm as they cool.


* oops i just realised i only added in 1/3 of the sugar in the original recipe but they sure don't taste like they are missing sugar!

Lime & Coconut Cookies (GF,TMX)

it's Thermomix competition time again! as usual i forgot to get any recipes into the comp *rolling eyes*

however i have just made the first recipe for the comp - the Lime & Coconut Cookies. If the dough is anything to go by these are fantastic!!! *drool*

here is my GF version of the recipe, thanks to Natalee for entering it :)


Lime and Coconut Cookies
Ingredients
Zest and juice 2 limes
170g raw sugar
120g cold butter
120g gluten free plain flour
60g gluten free SR flour
100g quinoa flakes
45g shredded coconut
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
80-100g white chocolate

Method
Preheat oven to 180ºC.
Place zest into TM bowl and mill for 15 seconds on speed 8. Scrape down sides of bowl and repeat if necessary.
Add sugar and mill for 15-20 seconds on speed 8 - each time you hear the sugar get quiet scrape down and start again.
Add butter and blend for 10 seconds on speed 6.
Add remaining ingredients except for chocolate and mix a further 10 seconds on Reverse + speed 4.
Place heaped teaspoons of mix onto lined baking trays, flatten slightly and cook for 12-15 minutes until golden around edges.
Remove from oven and cool completely.
To prepare chocolate, place into clean dry TM bowl and mill for 5 seconds on speed 8. Scrape down and melt for 2½ minutes at 50ºC on speed 1. Scrape into Ziploc plastic bag, snip corner off to drizzle over lined up cookies.

Choc Pix (GF, TMX)

Ok, Emelia and I have just made a double batch... will report later as to how these turned out with the changes * ;) this is a great recipe to make with kids because it's so easy.

Choc Pix (Gluten free, Thermomix version)

210g raw sugar
230g butter at room temp
20g cocoa
150g dessicated coconut
290g Gluten Free SR flour (i used Edwards??)
10g guar gum
2 eggs
1 tspn vanilla

mill sugar on speed 6 for around 20 seconds to make it finer. cream butter & sugar on speed 5 for around 5 seconds, scrape down sides and repeat.

add flour, guar gum, coconut & cocoa. Mix on reverse speed 5 until mostly mixed (20 secs?) add egg & vanilla through lid and mix well - perhaps another 20 seconds on speed 5?

bake 325'F (165'C) for around 8 minutes.

best thing with this recipe is that i don't like them LOL


* they are a bit too dry and crumbly so will play with the recipe again soon to see if i can improve it.

Choc Pix

an old recipe (i just found a recipe folder i started years ago) taht i think i got from a friend, or maybe i copied it from a recipe mum got from a friend.

if there's one bad thing the internet has done for recipes it's that we no long handwrite copies of recipes for each other. i really treasure mum's handwritten recipes and the fact that when i see the writing i know who wrote them straight away.

Choc Pix

4oz margarine
1 tab cocoa
1 egg
1 cup coconut
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup SR flour
1/2 tspn vanilla

cream marg & sugar. sift & add flour & cocoa. mix well and add egg & vanilla. add coconut.
bake 325'F (165'C)

Lemon cookies (GF)

thanks leah :) posting here so i don't lose it!

Lemon cookies

3 tablespoons oil or melted butter
1/3 cup Splenda or sugar (I used splenda)
1 cup soy flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 tablespoon water
2tbs lemon juice
1 tsp lemon rind.

Mix together the butter and Splenda. Blend in the water, juice and rind. Sift together the dry ingredients three times (to add volume to the flour). Mix in wet ingredients. Roll into little balls and flatten with a fork. Bake at 160 for about 15 minutes.

Brown Sugar Cookies (GF, TMX)

ahhh don't you just love a cooking disaster? i just made these cookies - doubled the recipe but not the flour. *sigh* lol


ah well, lucky the uncooked dough tasted good ;) they were soooo easy and i'm sure they're going to be a hit so i am going to make another batch for the freezer once i type the doubled recipe out, giving less room for error!

originally taken from Friendly Food from the Royal Prince Alfred Allergy Unit (they are egg free, dairy free if you sub butter with dairy free marg, gluten free, nut free and soy free if your flours are soy free)

250g butter
160g brown sugar (or raw sugar ground in the thermomix)
2 tspns vanilla essence
300g gluten free plain flour
150g gluten free SR flour

heat oven to 170'c

roughly chop butter and place in thermomix, add sugar and vanilla. mix on speed 4 for about 30 seconds until well mixed and just starting to look creamy.

add flours and mix on reverse closed lid knead setting until well mixed (i think this took a minute or 2 actually)

put teaspoonfuls rolled into small balls on baking trays lined with baking paper. with a fork (dipped in flour if needed) press down gently to create crisscrosses on top

bake for 12-15 minutes until golden brown. cool on a wire rack.

i think they would be lovely with a little raw sugar sprinkled on top before cooking too :)

Links - Gluten Free Sweet stuff

snickerdoodles

Cheddar Shortbread (GF, TMX)

Cheddar Shortbread
from gluten free and easy by robyn russell

these are lovely! i doubled the recipe so will provide those amounts below. only thing is the cayenne is WAY too much - even geoff and i can hardly eat them, let alone rora LOL next time i'll make them without any i think.


120g cheddar cheese (i used a piece of Ashgrove Cheddar)
220g commercial gluten free plain flour (i used white wings)
1 1/2 tspns salt
up to a half tspn cayenne pepper, optional
80g butter, chopped (i used unsalted)
1/2 bunch of chopped chives
approx 120ml milk (just a little over the MC full)

chop the cheese for 4-5 seconds on speed 6, or until it is crumbled, place in a bowl.

add the flour, salt and cayenne if using and mix/sift by setting on closed lid and pulsing with the turbo button 2-3 times

add the butter and mix on speed 6 for 4-5 seconds until it is crumbley and looks a bit like breadcrumbs

add the cheese and chives and drizzle the milk in slowly until it starts to form into a ball. i started with reverse speed 4 and then went down to 3 when that seemed a little fast. it took 70 seconds or 1 min 10 seconds for mine to come together.

remove from thermomix and lay on a piece of baking paper about 40cm long. wrap it and start to roll out into a long sausage shape. wrap in the paper then in plastic wrap and refrigerate for an hour.

preheat oven to 180'c
cut into 5mm rounds and place on a lined baking tray. bake for 15-20 mins until golden brown.

update: changes to the recipe here

Cookies (yes more!)

made this afternoon - 2 batches of the best chocolate chip cookie recipe ever...

one batch with green and red M&M's (i bribed ryan and emelia to pick them all out for me lol) and the other batch, inspired by Tara from Should you eat that was made with the mint / green M&M's and some cocoa in the mix (not really enough, i ran out)

we'll use some for gifts and the rest will be for our christmas eve party and christmas day.

i cooked one lot on baking paper and used my silpat silicone mat for the other - won't do that again! it's too big for my oven and all the cookies on the end all slipped down it and squashed into huge cookies.

Links - Biscuits & Cookies #2

link to first lot!

chocolate biscotti

chocolate chip cookies

Koulourakia (Greek Cookie Twists) with cardamom

spicy chewy molasses cookies

sunflower butter cookies

spiced holiday biscotti

cheese biscuits

Christmas Cookies (basic & TMX)

I wanted to bake some cookies today to try to get a photo for our christmas cards done. Ryan also had his friend I coming over, along with I's mum & sister. so I decided to combine the two and let the kids decorate some cookies. (i decorated the ones for the photo shoot though lol)

I used this recipe, which had pretty good feedback.

by the way, i've decided to post all recipes on my blog, even though i'll link to the original. someone else reminded me that when i was cleaning out my links a few weeks ago i lost a LOT of them as the sites were no longer there. safer to keep them here, but will always give credit to where they came from, when that is still possible!

Basic Biscuit Dough

Preparation Time: 15 minutes
Cooking Time: 15 minutes
Makes: 40 (we got about 25-30 larger cookies)

Ingredients:
* 250g butter, softened
* 1/2 cup icing sugar
* 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
* 1 egg, at room temperature
* 2 1/2 cups plain flour
* 1/2 cup cornflour

Method:
1. Using an electric hand mixer, beat butter, sugar and vanilla until pale and creamy. Add egg. Beat until well combined.
2. Sift flour and cornflour over butter mixture. Mix well. Divide in half. Press each half into a disc. Wrap each disc in baking paper. Refrigerate for 20 minutes.
3. Preheat oven to 160°C. Line 2 baking trays with baking paper. Roll each disc out between 2 sheets of baking paper to 3mm-thick.
4. Using letter-shaped biscuit cutters, cut letters out of dough. Place onto trays. Roll leftover dough together and repeat. Refrigerate biscuits until firm. Bake for 15 minutes or until light golden. Stand on trays for 5 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.

Notes & tips

* Hint: Dip cookie cutters into flour in between cutting each biscuit to prevent dough from sticking.


and the Thermomix version
Ingredients:
* 250g butter, softened
* 65g icing sugar (or make your own as per the instructions in the tmx book)
* 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
* 1 egg, at room temperature
* 440g plain flour
* 75g cornflour

Method:
1. mix butter, sugar and vanilla until pale and creamy. speed 4, 40-60 seconds. you might need to scrape down the bowl half way through.

2. Add egg and mix on speed 5 for 5 seconds.

3. Add flour and cornflour to butter mixture. Mix for approximately 60 seconds on the knead setting .

4. Divide in half. Press each half into a disc. Wrap each disc in baking paper. Refrigerate for 20 minutes.

5. Preheat oven to 160°C. Line 2 baking trays with baking paper. Roll each disc out between 2 sheets of baking paper to 3mm-thick.

6. Using biscuit cutters, cut dough. Place onto trays. Roll leftover dough together and repeat. Bake for 15 minutes or until light golden. Stand on trays for 5 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.

7. decorate with icing (approximately 1 cup sifted icing sugar, 1 tspn butter or marg and a tiny bit of hot water, plus drops of food colouring until you get the colour you want) and desired decorations - we used sprinkles / 100's & 1000's, some little candy hearts and silver cachous

German Cookies

here's another i can't believe i haven't posted on here. this was given to mum by a family friend and while it is a little fiddly and time consuming it is perfect for christmas. be careful when they're in the oven as they overcook easily!

the kids like to help me cut them out

These cookies are lovely and spicy (even though there's no spice in them *lol*)

1 lb (approx 1 kg) SR flour
1/2 lb (approx 250g) brown sugar
2 tabs treacle
1/2 lb (approx 250g) butter or cooking margarine
1 egg
1 tspn bicarb soda
(add 1/2 tspn cream of tartar if you only have plain flour)
jam - raspberry or whatever flavour you prefer.

Method:
* rub butter into the dry ingredients
* mix to a paste with the egg & treacle
* knead well
* roll out (quite thin) and cut into rounds (or stars would be perfect for christmas!)
* cook in a mod oven (190-200'c / 375-400'F) for 10-15 minutes
* while warm stick two cookies together with jam (raspberry or whatever you like!)

Outrageous Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Cookies

thanks to Cookie Madness for this recipe which i made during the week.

when i made the mix it seemed way too dry and i was worried that i should add more moisture somehow but couldn't make up my mind what (lol). then when they came out they were a bit dry and crumbly and didn't have all that much taste - i wasn't all that impressed.

but.... the next day they were lovely! now they're one of my favourite cookies lol the recipe will be a keeper ;)

Links - Biscuits & Cookies

apple sauce cookies

apple walnut cookies

chocolate biscotti

chocolate spice cookies & gingernuts

cranberry & walnut biscuits

lemon poppyseed cookies

key lime meltaways

NEW peanut butter pinwheels

pumpkin spice fudge cookies

spice cranberry oatmeal walnut cookies

wholewheat raspberry almond thumbprint cookies