An Easy Recipe for Anzac Biscuits

Anzac Biscuits Recipe adapted from Donna Hay's Recipes (all photos taken by me on my Sony RX100 II)

An Anzac biscuit is a sweet popular treat originating from Australia and New Zealand, associating itself with the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) established in World War 1.
As well as being a national treasure to us Aussies, these biscuits are also a favourite of mine because they are so easy to make and the ingredients so simple. It only takes me just under an hour to prepare and bake these goodies, and it makes approximately 35 biscuits.

Ingredients:
2 cups (180g) rolled oats
1 cup (150g) plain (all-purpose) flour
2/3 cup (150g) caster (superfine) sugar
3/4 cup (60g) dessicated coconut
1/3 cup (115g) golden syrup
125g unsalted butter
1 teaspoon bicarbonate of (baking) soda
2 tablespoons hot water

Instructions
Preheat oven to 160 degrees Celsius (325 degrees Fahrenheit). Place the oats, flour, sugar and coconut in a bowl and mix to combine (I use a wooden spoon and metal bowl; no need for electrical beater). Place the golden syrup and butter in a saucepan over low heat and cook, stirring, until melted.
Combine the bicarbonate of soda with the water in a small bowl and add to the butter mixture. This mixture will foam up. Pour into the oat mixture and mix well to combine. Spoon tablespoons of the mixture onto baking trays lined with non-stick baking paper and flatten into 7CM rounds, allowing room to spread. Bake for 8-10 minutes or until deep golden. Allow to cool on baking trays for 5 minutes before transferring to wire racks to cool completely.

*Note: For a more chewy texture, I bake the biscuits for 10 minutes exactly and allow to cool on baking tray for a little longer before transferring it to a wire rack. For a crunchier texture, I bake for 12 minutes or so. I check for the colour to determine the texture - the more golden and brown, the more crunchy.

I find these biscuits are so good to eat, and I find a more healthier alternative to other treats. I like to put extra oats and/or coconut for a chewier texture. One time I ran out of oats and only scraped enough to add only one cup of oats instead of two. The result was boring and flat. For me, oats and coconut are the keys!

Enjoy!

Valentine's Day Baking - Toblerone Chocolate Chip Cookies

A Recipe: Toblerone Chocolate Chip Cookies (variation of Donna Hay's 'The New Classics' recipe, Chocolate Chip Cookies)

Happy Valentine's Day my readers! As a way of showing my love for my friends and family this year, I decided to bake some red velvet cupcakes with cream cheese icing as well as some of these bad boys. Warm and gooey chocolate chip cookies with Toblerone pieces.

Toblerone Chocolate Chip Cookies (makes 22)

1 cup (175g) brown sugar
3/4 cup (165g) white sugar
150g unsalted butter, softened
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 egg
1 1/2 cups (225g) plain (all-purpose) flour, sifted
1/2 teaspoon table salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder, sifted
400g Tolberone chocolate, chopped

Preheat oven to 160*C (325*F). Place the brown and white sugars, butter and vanilla in an electric mixer and beat for 8-10 minutes or until pale and creamy. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and add the egg, beating well to combine. Add the flour, salt and baking powder and beat, on low speed, until a dough forms.
Fold through the Toblerone chocolate. Roll 2 tablespoons of the dough at a time into balls, and flatten slightly. Place on lightly greased baking trays lined with non-stick baking paper, allowing room to spread. Bake for 17-20 minutes or until golden. Allow to cool on trays.

Easy Peasy cookies and you can make them even more special by wrapping it in pink and white tissue paper and some twine. Happy Valentine's! <3

A Recipe: Chocolate Crackles Cookies via The Great Australian Bake-Off

Chocolate, Chocolate, Chocolate. It never disappoints with my circle of friends and colleagues, and most importantly, it never disappoints me. So flicking through my new book from The Great Australian Bake-Off, intending to dog-ear only complicated recipes to challenge myself, I found myself drawn to these simple and delicious cookies. These are made with dark chocolate ( 70% cocoa was stressed) to create a not-too sweet but rich taste and is then doused in icing sugar. Hmmm....

A Recipe: Chocolate Crackles Cookies via The Great Australian Bake-Off 

Ingredients (Makes 30):
100g dark chocolate (70% cocoa solids), roughly chopped
100g unsalted butter, softened
150g brown sugar
1 large free-range egg, at room temperature
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
175g self-raising flour
1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
1/2-2 teaspoons icing sugar

1-2 baking trays, greased

Instructions: 
1. Put the chopped chocolate into a large heat-proof bowl and set over a pan of steaming-hot but not boiling water (do not let the base of the bowl touch the hot water). Leave to melt gently. Remove the bowl from the pan and stir in the butter. When the mixture is completely smooth, stir in the sugar. Leave to cool for 5 minutes.

2. Beat the egg with the vanilla just until combined, then add to the bowl. Sift the flour and bicarbonate of soda into the bowl and mix thoroughly with a wooden spoon. Cover the bowl with cling wrap and chill for about 1 hour or until firm.

3. Preheat the oven to 200*C. Divide the chocolate dough into 30 even-sized pieces and roll into neat balls. Spoon the icing sugar into a shallow dish. Roll the balls, one at a time, in the sugar to coat thickly. Set the balls on the prepared baking trays, spacing well apart to allow for spreading. (Bake the biscuits in batches, if necessary).

4. Bake for 10 minutes for a softer biscuit, or 12 minutes for a crisp result. Remove from the oven and leave on the trays for a minute, then transfer to a wire rack and leave to cool completely. The biscuits will continue to firm up as they cool. Store in an airtight container and eat within 5 days.

** This recipe was taken straight from the The Great Australian Bake-Off Recipe Book and only found one issue with the process of baking: my cookies did not flatten out, instead it stayed in a round ball shape. At about the 8-9 minute mark of the cookies being in the oven, I just simple got my wooden spoon and pushed the dough down quickly and then let it bake for another minute or so.

The surface of the cookies are meant to crack to look like crazy paving as they cook. They look amazing and taste so good, taking only half an hour to make (with one hour waiting time in the fridge).

Happy Baking! xx

A Recipe: Red Velvet Chocolate Cupcakes w/ Creamcheese Icing

A Recipe: Red Velvet Chocolate Cupcakes w/ Creamcheese Icing and Coconut Sprinkles (This experience was kindly funded by ING DIRECT Wave and Save Promotion)

Over the Christmas/New Years Holidays I baked some of the yummiest and easiest cupcakes: Red Velvet Chocolate Cupcakes complete with cream cheese and coconut icing. I took the recipe straight from Taste.com:

Ingredients: 

• 300g (2 cups) plain flour
• 30g (1/4 cup) cocoa powder
• 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 315g (1 1/2 cups) caster sugar
• 250ml (1 cup) buttermilk
• 200g unsalted butter, melted
• 2 eggs, lightly whisked
• 1 tbs white vinegar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1-2 tsp red food colouring
• 2 x 250g pkts cream cheese, at room temperature
• 300g (2 cups) pure icing sugar
• 120g butter, extra, at room temperature
• 1 tsp vanilla essence, extra

Method:

1. Step 1
   Preheat oven to 170°C. Line eighteen 80ml (1/3 cup) capacity muffin pans with paper cases. Sift flour, cocoa powder and bicarbonate of soda into a bowl. Stir through the sugar. Whisk the buttermilk, butter, eggs, vinegar and vanilla in a large jug until combined. Make a well in the centre of the flour mixture. Add the buttermilk mixture. Stir until just combined. Stir in the food colouring.
2. Step 2
   Divide the mixture among the lined pans. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centres comes out clean. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
3. Step 3
   Use an electric beater to beat the cream cheese, icing sugar, extra butter and extra vanilla until smooth. Spread over cupcakes.
   
   
   

I decided to add some coconut desiccant to the top of my cupcakes (full recipe here). Also, 500 grams of cream cheese is quite alot to work with, but I found it was just enough, with the icing layer being very deep. But if you find that your cupcakes have risen considerably, you can use only half the cream cheese. Happy Baking!