Well we may not have the best decorated house, but we’ll try and have some of the best food that’s for sure. I look forward to Christmas because of all the amazing party nibbles that are about at this time of year. Serious issues around eating proper meals during the festive season, I’ll happily just eat random nibbles all night long. This is combined with the fact that I already know before December’s even begun that I need to go on a diet (yes, waistbands are begining to strain)…

But for the moment, I’m holding off on the dieting and bringing you delicious gingerbread treats instead. The sort of gingerbread that you find in Lapland with cinnamon in. And I love gingerbread houses, but how the heck do you portion that out? Well these mini ones provide an easy solution, and they’ll make really sweet(!) gifts for those of you a bit strapped for cash this winter. They keep well stored in a cool dry place so you could make them a little in advance.

They do take a little while to make, I will say. But nothing great was ever easy. I’m afraid I wasn’t too great with the flash because I was decorating them in the nights after work. I have tried my best to give you a good photo guide on how to do them though. The decoration can be anything you want it to be. I kind of discovered I’d forgotten to buy any decorations, so just made use of the sanding sugar and hundreds and thousands I had in my cake drawers but I’m sure you can you do a better job! If you do make them I’d love you to hook me up with some links to the photos, it’d make my day!

One of the best things about gingerbread is that it’s pretty darn easy to make. I will stress that it’s fairly imperative to have a way or being able to make the dough even thickness when you roll it out. Whether that’s using a special Joseph Joseph Adjustable Wooden Rolling Pin or using a rolling pin with two sticks. If you don’t make the dough even, you’re going to end up with dark bits of gingerbread where it’s thinner (and more breakable due to being brittle) and light bits where it’s thicker and perhaps not cooked enough.

First we’re going to need a template. Copy and paste it into an image editing program. Don’t use Word or try and use the Windows image printing program as they’re both likely to rescale the image. To make nice easy-to-use template pieces, I printed the template out onto a piece of paper, stuck it on some stuff cardboard and then covered each piece with cling film with all the edges stuck together as the top so I wouldn’t mark the gingerbread too much.

Then we’ll get all the ingredients together…

Next we’re going to whip cream and a little vanilla together, then mix with brown sugar, black treacle, bicarbonate of soda, ginger and cinnamon until it looks like this:

Then we’ll add the flour in bit by bit, then you’ll be able to squeeze it together gently to form a dough.

Now we need to roll out the dough evenly and as tightly as possible, cut the pieces out…

Put your pieces onto the baking tray. I’d suggest putting all the roof pieces together, all the sides together etc. It makes it easier to sort things out afterwards.

Bake…once cool we can make up the royal icing to cement it all together and start a little decoration! I put the doors and windows on prior to glueing.

Now we want to begin construction. The easiest way is to “wiggle pipe” so icing onto the base all the way around and leave for a minute. You’ll also want to pipe down the sides of the sides. You don’t need to worry about being neat, we’ll repipe the sides afterwards really prettily.

Then we’re going to gently place a front or back onto the house, gently pressing onto the very edge of the base, then sticking each of the sides to it to support it.

Glue the other sides on and hold together until they can support themselves

Then you can pipe around the outsides of the edges and pipe the tops of the front, back and sides in preparation for glueing the roof on.

Put each roof piece on gently…

Now you can decorate and pipe to your heart’s content. I piped some of the rooves using a star tip!

Here’s some other roof ideas…Piping icicles is really easy, just use a small nozzle, make sure you give a good squeeze onto the roof on the bottom side then pull down quickly,

{Makes 6 mini gingerbread houses}

Adapted from here

Ingredients

• ⅓ cup whipping cream
• ¼ tsp vanilla extract
• ½ tbsp bicarb soda
• ⅔ cup packed brown sugar
• ¾ tsp ground ginger
• ½ tsp ground cinnamon
• ⅓ cup black treacle
• 2¼ plain flour

For the icing…

• 200g royal icing sugar
• a few tablespoons of water

Ingredients

1. Line 2 baking trays with parchment paper or Silpat. Print out your template pieces, stick onto thick cardboard and then cover with cling film to protect dough, making sure that the cling film edges are facing up to prevent denting the dough too much.
2. Preheat oven to 140°C/275°F/Gas Mark 1
3. Whip cream and vanilla in a small bowl until they form soft peaks.
4. In a large bowl, stir together brown sugar, bicarbonate of soda, ginger, and cinnamon. Stir in the black treacle, then beat in whipped cream mixture until well-combined
5. Gradually add flour bit by bit, making sure each time that the flour has been mixed in well.
6. Dust a pastry mat or kitchen surface with flour. Divide dough in half and roll out one portion of the dough until flat – about 6mm thick. I then cut the dough so that the sides we kind of straight as I found this the easiest way to work.
7. Using your templates, you’ll need to cut 12 x roof pieces, 12 x front/back pieces, 12 side pieces and 6 bases. Using a palette knife, lift carefully onto baking trays.
8. Bake for about 20 mins but do check after 15 minutes. They will feel firm and edges will just be beginning to darken. Cool on a wire rack.
9. Once cool, mix up your royal icing. Place your royal icing sugar in the mixer and gradually add water drop by drop until it’s thick but spreadable. Then mix for 3-4 minutes.
10. Follow the visual demonstrations in this post for help with glueing and decorating your gingerbread houses!

Since we had a Bank Holiday and I had an extra day I thought it would be the perfect time to squeeze in some quality baking time. I’d lined up loads of amazing treats to make from various food blogs over the weekend. Then we had a BBQ party on Sunday (which by the way I had to make the pavlova twice! Still have NOT got a hang of pavlova) and I was feeling pretty hungover on Monday. I lay on the sofa watching repeats of Only Fools and Horses on G.O.L.D and trying to recover. Time ticks away, it’s 3pm, the shops are only open for another hour. Must. Get. Fat. Ass. Off. Sofa. I go, I remember to take the reusable bags (plus point), I return with all the right baking ingredients (double plus point).

I started trying some new cupcake ideas with some roll out icing. My nails are too long for this. I search the cupboard. Royal icing time. There’s about 200g left. I hedge my bets, wash out the KitchenAid bowl. I pour too much water in apparently despite calculating how much water I’d need. Attempt three: Buttercream time. The consistency is right. I start to pipe. It doesn’t stick on the sides of the cupcake like I want. I’m tired. I’m grumpy. The cupcakes are abandoned. I go and eat Thai food and feel a lot better. I took them into work today and labelled them “disaster cupcakes” and they disappear from the kitchen within half an hour!

The other recipe I had planned for the Bank Holiday weekend was Nanaimo bars. I tried them when I took a trip recently to Out of the woods cafe and I tried some of the delicious Nanaimo bars made by Fayre by Alley. I needed these things in my life.

This is me and my friend Kim. Kim is this amazing chick who enjoys dim sum about as much as I do. We have loads of food fun when we see each other (even though she’s daaan saaarf). Kim is also Canadian or Can-asian as I like to say. Since we have been friends for like 4 years, she has neglected to tell me about Nanaimo Bars. Kim is mean.

Anyway, I decided to make my own Nanaimo bars. I’ve got a new twitter friend, Alex who has a recipe for Nanaimo bars on alex bakes. I used her base recipe, but I made my own custard and changes the amount of chocolate on the top. Thanks to the feedback on this post, the real custard makes this non-traditional (and also because it’s runny too!) so I guess this is the Lay the table take on Nanaimo bars.

The recipe is pretty easy, stir all the base bits together: cocoa powder, coconut and digestive biscuits with butter.

Check out how orange the yolks are on these Clarence Court Cotswold Legbar Eggs (the blue shelled ones) I used for the custard! I was quite impressed with my custard making skillz!

Custard made, smooth it on top! Then add your chocolate…and try not to lick too much off the spoon.

Ingredients

For the base

Base recipe from alex bakes

• 200g digestive biscuits, blitzed in the food processor to make crumbs
• 100g butter
• 75g desicated coconut
• 50g sugar/li>
• 5tbsp cocoa powder
• 1 egg

For the custard

• 120ml milk
• 1½tbsp cornflour
• 1tsp vanilla bean paste
• 3 egg yolks

For the chocolate topping

• 100g high quality dark chocolate (I used 72% cocoa solids)
• 55g butter

Instructions

1. Line a dish approx 26cm x 17cm with foil (saves on tough washing up) and grease lightly.
2. Make the base: Melt the butter and with the sugar and and cocoa powder in a medium saucepan over a low heat. Whisk the egg and add to the saucepan along with the coconut and digestive biscuit crumbs. Stir well. Press base firmly into dish.
3. To make the egg custard: In a medium saucepan, heat the milk with the cornflour, vanilla bean paste and sugar, stirring constantly. The mixture will begin to thicken. Leave to cool for a minute or so, stirring to cool the mixture.
4. In a separate medium bowl, place the egg yolks and whisk a little. Pour half the milk mixture from a height into the egg yolks, stirring constantly to prevent the eggs coagulating.
5. Pour the mixture back into the remaining milk mixture in the saucepan and place back over the heat (low). Stirring constantly, cook for the next 5 minutes. Do not let it go lumpy! Spread over the biscuit base in the dish.
6. To make the chocolate topping: Melt the chocolate and butter in a bowl over boiling water until melted together. Once fully melted, leave for a few minutes to cool. Then spread on the top gently on top of custard, making sure you get to the edges.
7. Once it’s nearly cool, cover it in cling film and stick it in the fridge for 3-4 hours.
8. To serve, slice into small squares.

Food on sticks – keeps hands clean, makes food fun! I’d like to dedicate this post to Catty who has left our shores this week for Australia and inspired me to make this recipe from her food on sticks post.

Forigve me, I’m trying to write this with the taste of soil in my mouth. I had a bit of a disaster with dinner. I picked some spring onions from the garden and boiled them with some chicken. Those spring onions tasted strongly of soil it seems and tainted my chicken with soil flavour. It was gross…so now I’m redirecting my mind to nicer foods. Deep fried food. Food on sticks.

I’ve become a bit obsessed with potato dogs…I used to get them from the village shop where my maternal grandmother lived. There was something quite pleasurable about removing the potato dog wrapped in a now-greasy paper bag from the microwave. I’ve looked on the internet, can’t find them anywhere, except one photo. I heard about these corn dogs from Family Guy and The Simpsons and looked them up. No, they weren’t the same thing. Corn dogs are coated in cornmeal batter. Potato dogs are coated in hash browns. Lovely oniony potatoey sausages. Did I mention they’re on sticks?

Can I make a recomendation? Maybe it’s because I’m totes lazy, but my food processor has a grater on it. Instead of risking boredom and taking my fingers off, I just put the potatoes and onions through the grater and it took a few seconds! I’m all about efficiency (read: lazy).

You really need to strain the grated potato and onion mixture well – or it ain’t gonna stick chicks! Strain, strain and strain some more. Then grab a small handful and see if it sticks together, if it does then you’re good to go. I added some parmigiano reggiano into the potato mix for a bit of extra flavour, y’know, just because. I also used frankfurters (wiener!) but you could use proper sausages, just cook them first!

{Makes 6}

35mins – Prep time: 20 mins – Cooking time: 15mins

Ingredients

• 6 large potatoes (I used maris piper, the starchier the better)
• 6 frankfurters
• 1 large onion
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 80g parmigiano reggiano
• 1½ tsp salt
• ¾ tsp pepper
• Kebab sticks
• Deep fat fryer

Instructions

1. Peel the potatoes and onions, then grate them. Place the mixture in a clean tea towel and make into a bag, squeezing out as much excess moisture as you can. Then squeeze some more. Leave for a couple of minutes, then try squeezing again.
2. Grate the parmigiano reggiano into the potato and onion mix, add the salt, pepper and beaten eggs. Mix well.
3. Preheat your deep fat fryer to 170°C
4. Slide your frankfurters onto the sticks. Take a handful of the mixture and gently squeeze it onto the frankfurters.Keep going until each one is covered evenly. If it doesn’t stick, you haven’t strained enough water out!
5. Depending on how big your fryer is, put in two potato dogs at a time, cooking for around 5 minutes. They’re cooked when they’re golden brown.
6. Place on a piece of kitchen roll to cool a little. Dip in a little ketchup and eat whilst still warm.

There’s nothing like a bit of colour to brighten up your meal, so when I spotted these purple potatoes in our local supermarket, I just had to buy and photograph them! They taste exactly like normal potatoes and don’t lose their colour when you boil them. Yum yum!

We made the most of the brief summer weekend and had a barbeque, we still had some Keevil & Keevil Steaks left in the freezer, so the men gathered around the barbeque acting like their caveman forefathers, creating fire and chargrilling dead cow on it. Us girls were left the side dish preparations, so we made a traditional potato salad. I’ve longed for potato salad even though the weather is not fit for BBQ’s again. What the hell! I’ve made it again anyway. I wanted to jazz it up a bit this time and loved the idea of adding some fresh flavours to make the salad seem less stodgy. Here’s the result!

Ingredients

• 380g purple potatoes
• 6 tbsp mayonnaise
• 10 mint leaves, finely chopped
• 1 tsp lemon juice
• zest 1 lemon

Instructions

1. Boil the purple potatoes whole, for 15 mins. Drain and leave to cool.
2. Mix the mayonnaise together with the mint, lemon juice and lemon zest. Season with a little salt and pepper.
3. Once the potatoes have cooled, slice into quarters. Mix with the mayonnaise. Serve with a garnish of mint.

I became a bit obsessed with making my own stroopwafels a few years ago. I’ve always loved buying them from Starbucks and warming them on a caramel latte but I thought I could do better making my own. I realised I’d need a pizzelle iron – not readily available in the UK – you’d have to have it shipped in. I kind of gave up on the idea but occasionally I still buy them from Starbucks or when I was in Amsterdam I bought a suitcase full. Small space for pants, huge space for food…that’s just how I roll.

So when I was contacted by The Fairy Hobmother the other day to let me know my dream of pizzelle maker ownership was very soon to become a reality, the only right thing to do was write to blog post on it. I made my wish on @tehbus’ blog post and never expected to hear any more of it. I’ve been a very lucky girl in the past couple of weeks what with this and my lovely KitchenAid (and something else coming up soon).

The Fairy Hobmother works for Appliances Online. They’ve got some pretty nice stuff over there, I’ve been eyeing up a nice duel fuel cream range cooker that would look just laaaaverly in my kitchen. And if you leave a comment at the bottom of this post with your wish for something nice, the Fairy Hobmother might just pay you a visit!

So back to the stroopwafels…I found a recipe online and tweaked it a bit – I used half wholemeal flour and used light golden syrup as I find molasses a bit too strong in flavour, which worked out perfectly. The recipe said it was for 12 waffles, but I ended up with 24. Well, I had about 20 as I cut some of them up wrong (and took a bit of my finger off, so please be careful!).

{Makes about 24 stroopwafels}

Ingredients

For the waffles

• 300g wholemeal flour
• 300g plain flour
• 160g unsalted butter
• 125ml warm water (I used 50/50 boiling & cold)
• 120g granulated sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 7g yeast
• ½ tsp ground cinnamon

For the filling

• 330g dark brown sugar
• 160g unsalted butter
• 90ml golden syrup
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon

You’ll also need a pizzelle iron and a sweet/candy thermometer

Instructions

1. Dissolve the yeast in the warm water
2. Put the butter into the flour and start by mixing it in a little, then add the rest of the waffle ingredients into the mix until it’s smooth.
3. Cover bowl with cling film and leave for 45 minutes.
4. Whilst waiting for the dough to work its magic, make the filling. Take all the filling ingredients and warm in a pan, stirring constantly. Using the sweet thermometer, when it gets to soft ball stage, remove from the heat.
5. Preheat your pizzelle maker and split up the dough into 24 even pieces, rolling into balls. I find the easiest way is to split in half, then halve each half, then split each of those into three. Place two at a time into the pizzelle maker and leave for about 30 seconds to a minute, until golden brown. Remove and leave to cool a little. Mine were very unshapely so I used a round cutter to remove the crusty uneven edges and give it a neat edge.
6. Using a bread knife, carefully slice each pizzelle in half and use 1-2 tbsp of the filling to sandwich the stroopwafel back together. If the sauce goes too hard to spread, warm a little on the hob again. Delicious fresh and warm, or leaving a little longer to go a bit harder.

Macarons…the final frontier of baking, one of the few things I haven’t made before. Cherries are now in season so I bought a few from the lovely greengrocer in Headingley and wondered what on earth I could bake with them. My mum bought me Lorraine Pascale’s Baking Made Easy book and having watched her make macarons on the tv, I was sure it couldn’t be THAT hard. Four attempts later I finally had a mixture that I could pipe onto the baking sheet. Her instructions lack detail PLUS having looked up the video on Youtube, the weight for the egg whites for the meringue differs from that in the book. I adapted her recipe and I will give you more detailed instructions so that hopefully, you’ll be able to get them right sooner than I did!

{Makes about 12 macarons}

1 hour 45 mins (including cooling time) – Prep time: 30 mins – Cooking time: 15mins – Resting and cooling time: 1 hour

Ingredients

For the macarons

• 125g icing sugar
• 115g ground almonds
• 10g good quality cocoa powder
• 40g egg whites
• 110g caster sugar
• 2tbsp water
• 50g egg whites

For the cherry buttercream filling

• 70g pitted cherries, sliced roughly
• 2tbsp cherry brandy
• 2tbsp milk
• 1tbsp caster sugar
• 45g butter, room temperature
• 80g icing sugar
• You’ll also need a piping bag

Instructions

1. In a large bowl mix the icing sugar, ground almonds and 40g egg whites in a large mixing bowl and make into a paste.
2. Whisk the 50g egg whites in a metal bowl until nearly stiff peaks are formed.
3. In a small saucepan, combine the caster sugar and water until all the sugar has dissolved and the mixture starts to thicken – if you take it off the heat too soon then your meringue won’t form stiff peaks, too late and you’ll get hardened sugar bits in the meringue.
4. With the electric whisk on, gently pour the sugar water into the egg whites and mix until stiff peaks form and the meringue looks glossy.
5. Gently tip the meringue onto the almond paste mixture, not the other way around as this knocks the air out of the meringue and it will go sloppy (trust me from experience here).
6. Start folding the meringue into the almond paste with a plastic spatula, then give it a good stir once it’s all started to mix in. Don’t use an electric whisk as this will also affect the consistency. The mixture should have the consistency of tomato ketchup.
7. Line 2 baking trays with parchment/greaseproof paper and fill a piping bag with a round small/medium with your macaroon mixture.
8. With the piping bag upright, pipe circles 4cm wide, 2cm apart onto the tray. When pulling up from each circle it will leave a slightly raise lump. Once you’ve finished piping the circle, lift the tray off the surface and drop down a couple of times to help smooth them out.
9. Leave for 30 minutes to stand and pre-heat your oven to 170°C/Gas Mark 5.
10. Place in the oven for about 15 minutes with the door ajar (to prevent humidity in the oven) until they feel good and crisp on the top.
11. Move the whole sheet onto a cooling rack and peel the macarons off once cooled completely.
12. To make the buttercream: In a small saucepan, place the cherries, caster sugar and 1tbsp cherry brandy and simmer gently for a few minutes. Mash with a fork and cook for a minute or two longer.
13. Remove from the heat and run the mixture through a sieve into a large bowl to extract juices, then add the bits left in the sieve to the juice too. Add the butter, milk, icing sugar and leftover cherry brandy and beat well until smooth. The mixture will be slightly runny.
14. Spoon a large teaspoonful onto a macaroon and sandwich another on top, until all the macarons are done. I decorated mine with edible hearts.

Last week I had one of those weeks where everything I made went wrong. Thankfully I had the time and the determination to try again. Dumpling skins was one of those things. I have a Joseph Joseph adjustable rolling pin which I thought would be perfect for rolling out the pastry nice and thinly. I’d also found a recipe for the pastry in a book off of the 70′s which was completely awful – more of a pasta recipe which turned out way too sticky to even use.

I realised the only way forward was to invest in a pasta maker – it would roll out the pastry as thinly as I needed and it would be consistent. Plus it would be a lot quicker than the rolling pin method. It worked really well!

{Makes about 50 wrappers}

1¼ hour (including unattended chilling time) – Prep time: 25 mins – Chilling time: 30mins – Rolling time: 20 mins

Ingredients

• 300g dumpling flour
• 120ml cold water
• Pinch of salt
• Extra flour for dusting
• You’ll also need a large round cutter

Instructions

1. Mix the ingredients in a bowl until it forms a dough
2. Prepare a surface with flour and knead the dough for 15 minutes until it becomes elastic.
3. Roll into a ball and cover with cling film. Chill in the fridge for 30 minutes.
4. Prepare your pasta machine (you might need to dust with flour) and dust the area where the dough will come out once it’s rolled to prevent sticking.
5. Remove your dough from the fridge, slice into thirds and roll out one piece a little with a rolling pin. Start rolling through on the widest setting, do this three times.
6. Adjust your pasta machine, making it thinner, then dust the dough and roll through again. Keep repeating until the pastry is thin enough to see slightly through it – any thinner and it will start to tear (this was setting 4 on our Jamie Oliver machine).
7. Cut out round shapes from the dough using a cutter. Repeat the rolling process with the other two pieces of dough.
8. Fill with your favourite filling – if you’re looking for inspiration try my chicken, cabbage and spring onion gyoza.
9. To freeze, put plenty of flour on top and bottom, and layer on top of each other.

While I was travelling, I discovered an amazing sweet shop in Queenstown, New Zealand called the Remarkable Sweet Shop where I tried the most amazing fudge ever – apple pie fudge. I’ve never been able to find apple fudge anywhere else, so I decided to make my own. This creamier coloured soft fudge contains pieces of caramelised apple, and is adapted from this recipe for crumbly butter tablet.

Ingredients

For the caramelised apple

• 2 sweet apples (I used Jazz apples), peeled cored and finely chopped
• 15g unsalted butter
• 2tbsp soft brown sugar
• 2tbsp apple juice (or you use high juice squash)
• ¼ tsp ground cinnamon + ½ tsp ground cinnamon for decoration

For the fudge

• 900g caster sugar
• 100g dark brown sugar
• 794g condensed milk (2x 397g Carnation tins)
• 80g unsalted butter
• 180ml water
• ½tsp ground cinnamon
• 2tbsp apple juice

Instructions

1. Make the caramelised apples by melting the butter in a saucepan over a medium heat, then add the apples. Once most of the butter has absorbed and nearly all the liquid has gone, sprinkle in the brown sugar and cinnamon and stir well. Watch for the juices to thicken and darken then remove from the heat. Leave to cool a little.
2. You’ll need a 9″x9″ square dish to put the fudge in. I used silicone as it was easier to remove the fudge, but if you’re using ceramic or metal, you’ll need to line your dish with greaseproof paper.
3. Make the fudge by melting the butter on low heat in a large saucepan, then turning up the heat to medium/high and adding the rest of the ingredients, stirring constantly. Bring to bring to the boil.
4. Turn the heat down to medium, but keep the mixture boiling, still stirring regularly for 20 minutes. The mixture will darken and thicken.
5. Take the pan off the heat and beat with an electric mixer for 4 minutes. Then add in the caramelised apples and beat for another 3 minutes.
6. Place mixture in your prepared dish and smooth over. Finish by sprinkling cinnamon over the top of the fudge. Place dish on a cooling rack and leave to cool for 10 minutes then slice up the fudge. Leave to cool for at least 3 hours.

I was sent some smoked salmon by Forman & Field to try. I was wondering, could it be any better than normal smoked salmon? Well, yes it can actually. It has a gentle flavour which shows off the quality of the salmon and isn’t too salty. What better way to serve it than on some homemade blinis? Here I serve them with three flavoured types of creme fraiche: chilli and lemon, cucumber, horseradish.

{Makes 20}

30 mins – Prep time: 15 mins – Cooking time: 15 mins

Ingredients

• 1 quantity blinis
• 1 quantity Forman & Field London Cure Smoked Salmon 200g

For the lemom and chilli creme fraiche

• 3 big tablespoons creme fraiche
• Rind ¼ lemon
• 2tsp lemon juice
• ½ chilli flakes
• cracked black pepper for garnish

For the cucumber creme fraiche

• 3 big tablespoons creme fraiche
• 2cm thick slice cucumber

For the horseradish creme fraiche

• 3 big tablespoons creme fraiche
• 1tsp cream of horseradish
• chives for garnish

Instructions

1. For the chilli and lemon creme fraiche: Mix the lemon, chilli and creme fraiche. Ideally leave for the flavour to develop for a couple of hours. Spread on a ⅓ of the blinis (roughly one large teaspoon per blini) and garnish with some cracked black pepper.
2. For the cucumber creme fraiche: Finely chop the cucumber and mix in with the creme fraiche. Spread on a ⅓ of the blinis (roughly one large teaspoon per blini).
3. For the horseradish creme fraiche: Mix the cream of horseradish with the cream of horseradish. Spread on a ⅓ of the blinis (roughly one large teaspoon per blini) and garnish with some finely chopped chives.
]]> http://laythetable.com/snacks/blinis-with-forman-field-london-cure-salmon/feed/ 0 http://laythetable.com/snacks/toblerone-and-almond-cookies/ http://laythetable.com/snacks/toblerone-and-almond-cookies/#comments Mon, 14 Feb 2011 20:20:47 +0000 Becs http://laythetable.com/?p=1152

I spotted Toblerone cookies in the supermarket but as they’re quite expensive and I’m going through a cookie making phase right now, I wanted to make my own. Cookies are so easy to make plus you can leave the raw cookie dough in the fridge for a couple of days so you can whip up a fresh and warm batch when you feel like it (also raw cookie dough goes great with vanilla icecream!)

{Makes about 20}

1 hour – Prep time: 15 mins – Cooking time: 10 mins – Resting time: 30 mins (unattended)

Ingredients

• 300g normal-sized Toblerone, each triangle chopped in half
• 320g plain flour
• 180g light brown sugar
• 170g unsalted butter, melted and cooled
• 120g granulated white sugar
• 70g flaked almonds, crushed a little
• 1 large egg+1 large egg yolk
• 1tbsp vanilla extract
• 1tsp salt
• ½tsp bicarbonate of soda

Instructions

Oven temperature to 190°c / Gas Mark 5

1. Beat the butter, sugars and vanilla extract together until well mixed.
2. Add in the egg and egg yolk, ensuring they have been well mixed in
3. Pour in the crushed almond flakes, then sift in the flour, salt and bicarbonate of soda a little at a time.
4. Stir in the Toblerone pieces. They will all fit in and the mixture will still hold!
5. Lay out some cling film and roll half of the mixture into a small sausage shape on it. Wrap the rest of the cling film around it then roll the sausage longer (until diameter is approx 5cm/2 inches), ensuring it’s fairly even. Repeat with the other half of the mixture, then chill in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.
6. Pre-heat the oven and remove the cling film from the cookie dough. Make slices 1.5cm apart ensuring there’s at least one piece of chocolate in each biscuit and put the cookie dough onto a baking tray lined with greaseproof paper, spread well apart.
7. Bake in the oven for 8-10 minutes – the cookies will seem uncooked. Leave to cool on the baking tray for a minute or so, then transfer to a cooling rack. Try not to eat them all at once!
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