Plain, Almond and Peanut Butter Christmas Biscuits

Busy, busy, busy. Little elves are running up and down, worrying if they'll manage to finish up all the toys for good children. I am as busy as they are. I've spend a whole day baking star-shaped biscuits in 3 different flavours : plain, almond and peanut butter. The oven has been working all day long without a break and it's proud of what it achieved !
These biscuits are great for getting your family in a christmas mood. They can also be used as a beautiful and edible decoration for your Christmas tree ! Come on ! No time to waste; heat up your oven and let's get this baking started !



Ingredients : Plain Biscuit

- 250g plain flour
- 125g demerara sugar
- 125g softened butter

- 1 roughly beaten egg

Ingredients : Almond Biscuit

- 250g plain flour
- 125g caster sugar
- 125g softened butter
- A tsp of vanilla powder
- A handful of almond sticks
- 1 roughly beaten egg

Ingredients : Peanut Butter Biscuit

- 250g plain flour
- 125g demerara sugar
- 125g softened butter
- 2 tsp of peanut butter
- 1 roughly beaten egg
- black sesame seeds to sprinkle on top



All the flavours follow the same pattern. First, you beat the butter with sugar in a bowl. Then you beat in the egg and the flavouring (vanilla/almonds/peanut butter). Next it's the time for flour. I find it easier when I add the flour bit by bit and also mix it in with my hands. When the dough becomes fairly soft put it onto a floured surface and knead it gently until smooth. Wrap it in a cling film and put it in a fridge for 1,5h-2h to cool.

Heat up your oven to 170°C with a fan. 

On a lightly floured surface roll the dough so it's 0.5cm. Use your cookie cutters to cut out shapes from the dough. Decorate with anything you want but I personally prefer simple almond sticks or almond flakes sprinkled with sugar. Lay the biscuits on a sheet of baking paper that you previously laid on a baking tray. Bake it in the oven for around 8 minutes. Keep checking on the biscuits. They should be ready when the sides are turning golden.

Take them out and let them cool down. They're ready !

If you want the biscuits to also be a decoration for your Christmas tree simply make a small hole on top of a biscuit with an end of a paintbrush. A ribbon will fit through there perfectly. Just tie it and it's ready to hang on your Christmas tree !

I just realised it's 3 a.m where I live and with the last tray of biscuits I also realised how long I have not been sitting. My legs are dying.

I hope you'll like this recipe and have as much fun making those delicious biscuits as I did !

Merry Baking from,

Butterfingered Chef !

Homemade Christmas Muscovado Biscuits

Ho Ho Ho Everyone ! Well, not Ho Ho Ho yet but it's time to start getting ready for Christmas ! Many people are walking around wondering what to buy for their loved ones and find it very difficult. Well, let me make it easier for you. Christmas is about love and spending time with your family and what would ever be a better gift than spending time and energy and putting in all your love in making delicious homemade Christmassy biscuits. Yes ? Great ! Let's start baking ! 

Ingredients :  

- 2 teaspoons baking soda

- 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
- 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon ground ginger 
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
- 1/2 cup baking margarine at room temperature
- 1/4 cup unsalted butter, softened
- 1 cup muscovado sugar (buy 2x500g - the rest will go for making a sugar syrup)
- 1 large egg
- 1/2 cup of sugar syrup 
- dry demerara sugar for sprinkling the biscuits before baking
- baking sheets

Sugar syrup will take a while to make and to cool down. Prepare it before hand. What you need to do is to pour a little bit more  than 1/2 cup of water into a pot and bring it to boil. Then turn the heat to small and start adding sugar bit by bit. Keep stirring ! Your syrup is ready when no more sugar is able to dissolve.

Start of by combining dry ingredients : baking soda, ginger, cinnamon, allspice, cloves, salt, cayenne pepper and flour together in one bowl. 

In another bowl put butter, margarine and muscovado sugar. 
A tip : don't put massive chunks of butter and margarine in a bowl. Cut them in smaller pieces. If the sugar has bigger chunks in it use a hand potato masher to smash it and mix it with butter before using a mixer. 

Mix the mixture with a mixer until fluffy. It should take around 3-4 minutes. Add an egg and the sugar syrup. To avoid making a mess add the flour mixture bit by bit each time mixing it in with a fork. This way ,when you finally use a mixer on a low speed to combine the ingredients properly together, the flour dust won't go everywhere. 

Preheat the oven to 200°C.

Take a small amount of dough in your wet hands and roll it until round and smooth. Put it on an ungreased baking sheet (place the sheet on a baking tray). Place the dough balls around 4-5cm (aprox. 2 inches) apart from each other. Sprinkle some dry demerara sugar on top of the dough balls. 

Now here comes a tricky part. When I was making my biscuits I had to "feel" my oven. Some of my biscuits burned a little bit when on a certain tray. I had to figure out if they come out better when baked 8, 10 or 12 minutes. Also an important role plays the position you place them in the oven. For me the biscuits came out the best when baked on a teflon baking tray on a top rack  for 8 minutes. I suggest you make sample biscuits and 'feel' the oven. 

After the baking time take the biscuits out and cool them down. They may feel a bit soft 
when straight out of the oven but do not worry they get crunchy when they cool down. 

Now the only thing left to do is figuring out how you want to wrap them up and putting them under a Christmas tree !

I hope you and your loved ones will enjoy this recipe. 

With Love, 

Butterfingered Chef

Quick, Easy and Delicious Muffin Recipe !

The last time I tried to make muffins nothing worked out the way I planned. Well I did not give up and I made them again. This time they came out perfect ! 

I used the same recipe as in the previous post and perfected it a bit. 

Ingredients : 

- 1 egg
- 200g plain flour
- 100g caster sugar
- 2 teaspoons of baking powder
- 120 ml milk
- 4 tablespoons olive oil
- 1/2 teaspoon salt

I also made 4 different kinds : plain, coconut, raisins and dark chocolate. 

Before I started doing anything I heated up the oven to 180°C. 

I mixed all dry ingredients in a bowl. In a separate bowl I mixed milk, olive oil and an egg. I combined the two but I tired not to over-mix it. I separated the mixture into 4 glasses. To the first one I didn't add any additional ingredients. To the second one I added a teaspoon of coconut shreds. Unfortunately it was too little and I couldn't really taste it in a muffin so I suggest using around 3 teaspoons of coconut shreds. To the third glass I added a handful of raisins and to the fourth glass big pieces of dark chocolate. 

After everything was ready and the oven was hot I poured the mixture into plastic muffin cups. I filled only 2/3 of the cup (remember that they will grow in the oven and you don't want them to spill out of the cups). 

I've put them in the oven at 180°C for 13 minutes. I was checking every 5 minutes if it's already dry inside by stabbing it with a long toothpick. If the toothpick came out dry that meant the muffin was ready. Just in case after those 10 minutes I left it in the oven for another 3 minutes and then I took it out and left it to cool down. 

 The muffins came out really soft inside. The plain muffin can be eaten with butter and is great for tea-breaks. It has a very neutral flavour so it can be eaten with something sweet or with something salty. 

The coconut muffin didn't come out the way I planned as it actually tasted like a plain muffin. As I wrote before more coconut shreds are needed for this muffin. It still came out delicious though ! 

The raisin muffin is the sweetest. Great with strong coffee. 

Dark chocolate muffin is my favourite. Sweet with big pieces of dark chocolate that just melts in your mouth. I think it's great for meetings with friends for a coffee or as a small homemade gift when visiting someone. 

Hope you'll try to make them cause they're really easy , very quick and super delicious. 

Have fun, 

Butterfingered Chef

Sweets That Made Me Die and Go To Paradise

Can you find those delicious sweets I'm writing about today ? 

I've seen it a lot of times but I never wanted to try it. My friend had a dirty keychain that looked like it and I think that was one of the reasons why it was on a no-no list. Besides, it looked like food made out of Pokemons. I always thought it would be squashy and sweet beyond boundaries but... I was wrong and it became my favourite sweet with a first bite. 

Yes, I am talking about macarons. 

The term 'macaron' is derived from the Italian word 'macarone' which means meringue. 

It should not be mistaken with macaroons. Macaron's main ingredients are eggs whites, icing sugar, granulated sugar, ground almond or almond powder and food colouring while macaroon's main ingredients are just almonds and egg whites. 

Macarons were brought to France by Catherine de’Medici. She was a daughter of a Duke of Urbino and a brief ruler of Florance, Lorenzo di Piero de' Medici. He died from syphilis 21 days after Cathrine's birth at age of 26. Her mother was Madeleine de la Tour. Catherine married King Henry II of France in 1533 at age of 14 and brought with her Italian pastry chefs who introduced macaron to France. 

Just a few days ago I tried my first macarons which after today I don't even consider a macaron but a "wanna-be". Macarons are very popular all over the world but it is difficult to find the good ones. A lot of macarons are just different colours but do not taste like what they are suppose to be made of. A lot of them do not have a flavour what so ever; they're just really sweet and no matter what colour you're going to buy it will not taste like anything else than just sugar. Also a lot of them don't even have the right consistency. The good macarons are unfortunately really expensive. 

Btw, the beautiful earrings you see in this photo are made by Horsecka Jewelry

The macaron we know today (so called double-decker) was created by Pierre Desfontaines of Laduree in 1930's. His grandfather, Louis-Ernest Laduree, founded  a french luxury bakery, Laduree,  in 1862 which thanks to his grandson's invention became famous all over the world and till today is still one of the best known makers of macarons. 

Everything from Laduree's paper bags, through the packaging to the macarons is classy and sophisticated. The small box of 6 macarons costs 15 euro. A box of 8 macarons 17 euro. The price says it all. 

Rose - at first I just felt its amazing texture, not the flavour. The almond meringue discs are crunchy at first but they really quickly melt in your mouth. The inside is really soft with a creamy, delicate texture. Just when I completely forgot that the macaron is suppose to have a flavour it hit me with such strength that I behaved as if I ate something really hot. The strong taste of a rose appeared first on my tongue and within seconds it was all over my cheeks and then nose. While the aroma was spreading in places I never thought have taste-buds (and I'm still sure they don't) I completely forgot about reality and the fact that I was sitting with my parents in a living-room. I was miles away in my grandparents summer house picking up petals of a wild rose from a garden which later I would mash in a small kitchen with lemon juice and sugar to create rose jam. Surrounded by the aroma of the rose I was 10 again. 
Now I know what I would say if somebody asked me what would be the last thing I would want to eat before I die. Rose macarons because they move my whole body and mind to what I consider my heaven and paradise. 

Pistachio - The creamy inside contains small pieces of nuts which gives a nice crunch to the whole macaron. After I ate it I looked at the notes I took while tasting it and I realised that within two sentences I used the word "pistachio"five times, which should give you a really good idea about its flavour. It tastes more like a pistachio than a pistachio itself. 

Pure Origin Chocolate From Venezuela - it tastes like a Polish Prince Polo chocolate bar (dark chocolate version) with a  creamy inside. If you never tried Prince Polo before I bet you can easily find it in Polish shops and if you're from Czech, Slovakia, Lithuania, Ukraine or Iceland you should have no problem in getting one as apparently those chocolate bars are quite popular in those countries. In Iceland it's called "Prins Póló".

Chocolate - Because of this little macaron I literally started screaming asking my mom "What is this chocolate ?! Where do they get it from ?!" because I never ate a better chocolate in my entire life. 

Salted Caramel - Really strong taste. Even though the name of this macaron suggests that the filling was made with an enormous amount of sugar and some salt I didn't taste carmel whatsoever. Instead of that I felt like eating a less sweet version of condensed milk. It reminded me of wafer-cakes my grandma used to make. It also tasted the way a honeycomb smells when taken out of the beehive (at least that's the way I remember the smell of it). 

Raspberry - After the first bite I felt like having a handful of raspberries in my mouth. After a whole macaron I felt like I ate at least 60 raspberries at once. The aroma is really strong and what I like about this macaron are the seeds that I could feel in my mouth and which gave me an illusion of actually eating a raspberry. 

If you ever ate a cheap macaron from a nearby bakery and it wasn't very good or it was just really sweet without any specific flavour please do not think all of them are like that. It can take time to find the good and real macarons. If you'll ever find yourself in Laduree store buy a small box. I know it's expensive but I'm sure you won't regret spending those 15 euros. Just don't get addicted to them! 

Take care sweet-tooth comrades! 

Butterfingered Chef

Delicious, Quick and Easy Apple Dessert

Ummmm... Doesn't it just look yum ? This dish can be a part of a larger meal (great with liver) or it can be on its own as an appetiser or a dessert. I prefer it as a dessert.

The best thing is it's quick and easy !

All you have to do is to cut an apple in half and cut out the inside with seeds (no need to peel off the skin). If you like you can coat the apple in brown sugar (it will caramelise while in the oven). Set the oven at 175°C. The apples are ready after 15 minutes in the oven. 

You can add raspberries, orange zest, normal white sugar, raspberry and toffee dessert sauce. I also like to to sprinkle it with a tiny bit of ground cinnamon and ground chocolate. 

That's all you need ! As I said before easy and quick but what's the most important - delicious ! 

Try it out and tell me what you think ! 

Butterfingered Chef

My First Cake Ever - Carrot Cake !

Today I made my first cake ever and because carrot cake is my favourite I decided that that's what I will try to make. I thought it would be much more difficult than anything else I ever cooked but surprisingly I made it in no time. The recipe is very simple and I think nobody can get it wrong.  

Ingredients for the cake (without the cream): 

- 2/3 glass of flour
- half a glass of sugar
- a teaspoon of bicarbonate
- 3/4 teaspoon of baking powder
- 1 teaspoon of cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon of ground clove 

- 1/4 teaspoon of ground nutmeg
- 1/4 teaspoon of ground allspice
- 1/4 teaspoon of salt
- 1/3 glass of oil of olive
- 2 eggs
- 1 glass of thinly chopped/mashed/ground cashew nuts
- 1 glass of dry cranberry
- 1 glass of grated carrot


Equipment : 
- bakery paper        - baking tin        - hand mixer
   

Cover your baking tin with bakery paper. To make the paper stick to the baking tin butter the tin.

You'll need two bowls. In the first one you'll mix all the dry ingredients. Salt, flour, sugar, baking powder, bicarbonate and all of the spices go to the same bowl.

In the second bowl you'll mix oil of olive and 2 eggs.

Combine the two bowls.

Add the carrot, nuts and cranberry and mix well. Put the mixture into the baking tin and spread evenly.

Bake in the oven at 175ºC for 40-45 minutes.

As you can see I chose a very wide baking tin that is why my cake came out so thin.

Normally it should be much thicker and then you cut in half and in between the top and the bottom you put the cream.

But because my cake is thin I've cut it differently. And then I've but both tops on top of each other.








Cream Ingredients : 

- 300 g of cream cheese
- 6 spoons of butter
- a teaspoon of vanilla extract
- 1 cup of sugar powder (pass it through a sieve)

Mix it with a hand mixer until the texture of it is smooth and without any clumps.

As I told you before my cake came out too thin so I've cut it into two tops. One of the tops will use as the bottom of the whole cake. On this piece I spread a thick layer of cream.

Then I covered the bottom piece with a top piece. The rest of the cream went on the top of the cake.

Decorate your cake with some ground cinnamon and chopped cashew nuts.

Voila !

This cake takes an hour to make and I bet everybody who loves sweets will find it delicious.

If you never tried the carrot cake before trust me it doesn't taste like a carrot. It's sweet, soft, the cranberries add some sourness and the cashew nuts some crunch.

Hope you enjoy it ! 

Butterfingered Chef