Tag Archives: biscuits

Florentines

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Florentines are a delicious treat to serve with coffee after dinner.

Actually they’re delicious any time of day. I swear they talk to me from the tin, sending out “Eat me” messages. They’re quite big, so if it makes you feel better cut them in half, or make smaller ones. But you’ve seen Florentines in cake shops – they’re always big!

Use any combination of dried fruit and nuts you have on hand. I used some dried sour cherries from Costco and craisins (dried cranberries). I left out the candied peel because I’m the only one in our family who likes it.

Woolworths sell non-stick egg rings in two packs for about two dollars, so I bought five packs. I could have made the Florentines slightly thinner and got 12 from the recipe, but I had only bought 10 egg rings, so that was that! If preferred make them free-form by placing heaped tablespoonsful onto the paper – they will spread as they cook.

½ cup creamFlorentines
½ cup sugar
1 Tbs honey
½ cup dried cherries (glacé or sour cherries)
½ cup dried fruit (I used cranberries)
½ cup candied peel (or more dried fruit)
1 cup flaked or slivered almonds (I used almonds & cashews)
½ cup flour
100g dark chocolate, melted
1 tsp vegetable oil, coconut oil or Copha

Preheat oven to 180°C. Line a baking tray with non-stick paper and arrange the egg rings on top. In a medium sized saucepan heat cream, sugar and honey till boiling. Remove from the heat and add fruit, nuts and flour. Cool for a few minutes so it thickens up.

Divide among the rings spreading evenly then bake for 10-15 mins or until light caramel coloured. Don’t overcook as the fruit easily burns. Leave to cool on the tray.

Melt chocolate and oil or Copha in microwave or in a bowl over boiling water. Dip each Florentine into chocolate on the flat side, shake off excess then cool on non-stick paper, chocolate side up. If you’re in a hurry stick them in the fridge or freezer. And if you have any chocolate left, drizzle a bit on the bumpy side, but let the chocolate set on the first side before you do this. They actually look better on the drizzly/bumpy side.

Makes 10-12

Pom’s Crunchy Biscuits

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My Thai friend Pom makes these delicious crunchy biscuits. She gave me some as a gift recently, but they were so good I ate them all as I was driving home, so Matthew didn’t get any. I asked her for the recipe and decided to double the quantities because I knew that 16 biscuits wouldn’t last long.

They’re like muesli in a biscuit – healthy, satisfying, good for lunch boxes or to go with a cuppa. An Australian cup measure is 250ml or a quarter of a litre.

Pom's Crunch Biscuits4 cups cornflakes
2/3 cup sugar or honey
250g butter at room temp
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla essence
1 cup sultanas
2 cups SR flour
½ cup sesame seeds (white or black or a mixture)
½ cup shredded or dessicated coconut
½ cup sunflower or pumpkin kernels
1 cup chocolate chips or chopped chocolate

Preheat oven to 180ºC. Place cornflakes in food processor and process briefly to break them up a bit, but not much. If you need to chop the chocolate do it now and add it to the cornflakes. Place sugar or honey and butter in food processor and mix until smooth and creamy. Add eggs and mix well, then flour and vanilla. When smooth, scrape into the bowl with the cornflakes, add remaining ingredients and mix well. Line two or three baking trays with baking paper. Form mixture into 3cm balls and arrange on trays with spaces in between. Bake for 12-15 minutes or until golden – don’t overcook or they will be dry. Cool then store in a tin with a lid.

Makes about 32

Note: the recipe is easy to halve and you can vary the ingredients to suit you taste. Add more coconut and less sultanas, use chopped nuts instead of the kernels, or leave out the chocolate and substitute something else

Dream Bars

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This recipe first appeared in the Australian Women’s Weekly Big Book of Beautiful Biscuits when it was published in 1982. I’ve been making it ever since and it’s always popular.

The original recipe uses 2 cups fruit mince (mincemeat) but I use a cup of dried fruit and a cup of jam instead. It’s great for using up all those bits of jam and marmalade at the bottom of jars – something my family say I’m famous for. It’s always a great achievement when you can find things in the fridge which need using up and turn them into something finger lickin’ good.

When I returned to take the photo someone, who shall remain nameless and blamed the dog, had already eaten a piece.

photo

Base:
180g butter at room temp
2/3 cup brown sugar, lightly packed
2 cups plain flour
Topping:
4 eggs
1 cup brown sugar, firmly packed
2 tsp vanilla essence
2 Tbs Plain flour
1 tsp Baking Powder
3 cups dessicated coconut
1 cup jam (any flavour)
1 cup dried fruit

Preheat oven to 180°C. Process butter and sugar in food processor until creamy. Add sifted flour and mix until you have crumbs which are starting to stick together. Press mixture into a greased Swiss Roll tin or slice tin (mine is 35x25cm) lined with baking paper. It doesn’t have to look very smooth but it does need to be evenly spread to cover the base. Bake for 10 mins or until golden.

Process eggs, sugar and vanilla in food processor. Add coconut, jam and fruit and process just enough to mix. Spread topping over the cooked base, bake for 25-30 mins or until firm and golden brown. Cool, dust with sifted icing sugar and cut into squares.

Variation: Frangipane Bars: make the base as above. When cooked, spread with about a cup or so of raspberry jam or lemon curd. For the filling mix 125g butter, softened, with 1 cup caster sugar in food processor until light and fluffy. Add 4 eggs, ¼ cup plain flour, 3 cups almond meal (or another ground nut) and a tsp of vanilla or almond essence. Spread evenly over the base, sprinkle with flaked almonds and bake for 25-30 mins or until firm and golden brown.

Sesame Cheese Biscuits

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These delicious biscuits are family favourites to serve with drinks.  They’re a traditional Aussie recipe and were made by all the ladies of a certain age – my mother in law, her sister and my dear friend Joan Tyrrel who passed away last year. While the recipe says to use cheddar, you can use any hard cheeses, including a mixture of leftover bits and pieces! At their best when fresh, they will keep in a tin with a lid for up to a week, if they last that long.

Sesame Cheese Biscuits
200g plain flour
200g butter
200g cheddar cheese, grated
1-2 tsp dry English mustard or cayenne pepper (optional)
Sesame seeds to coat

Preheat oven to 180C.  Place flour and butter in food processor and process until fine crumbs.  If liked add some English mustard powder or cayenne pepper at this stage.  Add grated cheddar and continue to process until mixture forms a ball.  Tip out then pinch off pieces the size of a large walnut and roll into balls.  Roll balls in sesame seeds to coat them all over, then arrange on baking trays lined with baking paper.  Press each biscuit lightly with a fork and leave a space between each one as they will spread while cooking.  On a hot day it’s a good idea to refrigerate the biscuits for about half an hour before cooking.  Bake for about 15 minutes or until golden.  Cool on cake racks.

Makes about 45 biscuits

Note: you can make this recipe with less or more ingredients, just keep the weights of flour, butter and cheese equal